Cuffe, CiaranWednesday, 10 February 2010 |
Dáil Eireann Debate
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Order of Business.
Question put: “That the proposal for dealing with No. 4 be agreed to.”
Voted Yes 
Finance Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed).
I ask for some protection from the Chair.
I suspect that is not the last we will hear from Deputy Durkan.
We became far too dependent on the good-time taxes during the boom years. When we saw enormous increases in revenue——
I suspect it is not a vanity mirror.
I suspect that if Deputy Durkan were pulled in to the side of the road by a garda on a motorcycle, his excuse would not quite cut the mustard in terms of avoiding penalty points.
Some protection for the Greens, of whatever hue, would be appreciated. The point I was making was that we became far too dependent on the good-time taxes during the boom years. There was considerable...
If the Green Party position has moved on the issue of carbon taxation, I would love to hear about it. I suspect there are many different points of view within the Fine Gael tent.
Deputy Durkan is——
Our electricity utility companies are part of the emissions trading scheme, the Europe-wide scheme to reduce emissions. A carbon levy in Ireland will have a similar effect by putting a charge on cert...
There is a measure of equity in that.
This will make those fuels that are most harmful to the atmosphere more expensive to consume——
——thus helping us to meet our climate change target of reducing emissions by 20% by 2020. It will be no mean feat to achieve that target. We cannot continue as we have done heretofore, despite prote...
This will create incentives for new businesses to create low-carbon technologies and improve energy efficiency, which will gradually wean us off our great reliance on imported oil. Such a levy will a...
We may well need some injury time.
Good. Per capita, Ireland still ranks as the one of the highest emitters of carbon dioxide in the world. Aside from the moral argument that it is incumbent on each of us to play out part in solving t...
If even the Fine Gael backbenchers understood this, I would be much happier than I am.
Slowly but surely, we are running out of oil. Estimates as to when this will occur vary but as the International Energy Agency has pointed out, “the era of cheap oil is over”.
A carbon levy can be used to change household and business behaviour, incentivising greater energy efficiency in our homes and the use of cleaner, greener technologies that will lessen our energy depe...
To conclude——
——new taxes are never popular, but as with the plastic-bag levy, a carbon levy has a clear environmental goal——
——in addition to being in the long-term economic interest of the country. I thank the Acting Chairman for her protection.
Private Members’ Business - Public Service Remuneration: Motion (Resumed).
Amendment put.
Voted Yes
Finance Bill 2010: Second Stage (Resumed).
Question put.
Voted Yes
Written Answers - Civil Service Staff.
Asked the minister: if, in view of the standing down of the committee on performance awards which had allowed Secretaries General to assign assistant secretaries specific and demanding targets for the year ahead that we...
| Last Updated: 15/12/2010 14:17:36 |
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