Peadar Tóibín: Carbon Tax Is Crushing Families, 'Omni-shambles'
Peadar Tóibín addressed the Dáil sharply, criticising the Tánaiste's handling of energy and carbon tax policy and warning the government's decisions are doing real harm. He argues high energy prices and a rigid carbon tax are increasing costs for families, businesses and farmers and calls for a proper, practical debate.
Tóibín stresses that high energy prices are not an abstract issue: they raise production costs, push up prices on shop shelves, hamper exports and put pressure on jobs. He frames energy costs as a central driver of the current cost-of-living crisis and a factor that must be confronted in economic policy.
Tóibín argues the carbon tax is ill-suited to changing behaviour when the market or lack of alternatives already determine choices. He emphasises the tax increases costs irrespective of economic conditions and that it was opposed by his party when first introduced in Leinster House.
Using concrete examples - including that you "cannot spread slurry with an electric car" - he highlights how many people and sectors have no viable alternatives to fossil fuels. He calls for targeted relief and a proper national discussion on carbon tax design, and presses ministers to tailor policy to where the economy and people's pockets actually are.
Economic consequences of high energy prices
Tóibín stresses that high energy prices are not an abstract issue: they raise production costs, push up prices on shop shelves, hamper exports and put pressure on jobs. He frames energy costs as a central driver of the current cost-of-living crisis and a factor that must be confronted in economic policy.
Why the carbon tax is problematic
Tóibín argues the carbon tax is ill-suited to changing behaviour when the market or lack of alternatives already determine choices. He emphasises the tax increases costs irrespective of economic conditions and that it was opposed by his party when first introduced in Leinster House.
Practical examples and policy demands
Using concrete examples - including that you "cannot spread slurry with an electric car" - he highlights how many people and sectors have no viable alternatives to fossil fuels. He calls for targeted relief and a proper national discussion on carbon tax design, and presses ministers to tailor policy to where the economy and people's pockets actually are.
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Transcript
Camille Margaret, Tánaiste, you've created some omni-shambles this week, it's incredible like within the space of a week you've done both the country and yourselves enormous damage and I think you know in many years time when perspective returns to this you'll definitely rue the decisions the government makes today. Just in future the only advice I can give you is always talk to people in relation to any of these difficulties. The problem stems from the inability of elected reps to talk to people. One issue here that people are not discussing at all is high energy prices are bad for the economy. I don't think I've ever really heard any political party say that statement boldly in this country in the last number of years. They make the cost of production go up, they make our exports go up, they make it more difficult to trade internationally, they put pressure on jobs, they make the food on the shelves more expensive to pay for, they are the biggest addition to the rip off Ireland that so many people are living in. Now in that high energy cost country that we're living in at the moment is the issue of carbon tax. Now carbon tax is really problematic and the reason being is because it increases tax two, three, four, five years ahead of time irrespective of the economic situation that people, families and businesses are in. You can only tailor a tax on the basis of where the economy is at and where people's pockets are at and this particular tax ignores all of that and that's why it's so problematic. That's why we were the only political party here in Leinster House that voted against the carbon tax being introduced in the first place. It's really, really hurting families at the moment. In terms of teachers, older people, all the different elements of society that keep our society going, it is hurting them horrendously. So there has been a postponement, a postponement that the government said could never happen. It has happened. Now we need to have a proper discussion about carbon taxes. Other European countries have carbon floors, other issues to make sure that they nudge people towards maybe non-fossil fuels in the future. But this tax is a hammer in relation to people's behaviour. Carbon tax is planned, we're told, to achieve a price to move people away from carbon taxes but if the market has already achieved that price, well then carbon tax is just punitive. Carbon tax is a tax we're told to change behaviours. But if people have no alternatives, and as you know, Minister Artonis, people can't take in the silage with an electric car. You cannot spread slurry with an electric car. And as a result, you need to make sure that people with no alternative have a break that allows them to function.