Madam, – The Government is proposing a carbon tax for the next budget which it says will generate €480 million. What will this revenue be used for? The tax is purportedly primarily to force people to curtail their use of fossil fuels to help reduce global warming. However, Ireland’s population of 4.5 million is approximately 0.075 per cent of the world’s population of six billion. Therefore, any reduction in carbon emissions in Ireland will have virtually no effect on global warming, but the carbon tax will result in Ireland’s industry becoming even less competitive on the world stage and will further impoverish the less well off in society.
The use of electric vehicles will not reduce Ireland’s emissions at present as Ireland currently generates approximately 85 per cent of its electricity from fossil fuels. We have been told time and again that this is unsustainable, and it is. Our Government needs to make serious commitments towards generating all Ireland’s electricity from renewable resources. We are told Ireland has enough wind, wave and tidal energy to power all of the island and also to export to Britain and Europe. Proposals have been made which will enable water storage in reservoirs to provide electricity generation for the country in calmer periods.
I believe this infrastructure should be constructed and operated by the Government, as energy security is in the national interest and Ireland cannot rely on interconnectors at the wrong end of a very long line for energy security. Europe could have no objections to Ireland providing for its own environmentally sound energy security.
The Government has been told it needs to widen its tax base and the profit generated by the electricity usage and export will generate an ongoing revenue. A reasonable profit generated would, in effect, be a widening of the tax base and give a secure and ongoing revenue for the Government (similar to the dividend paid by the ESB).
Also, when these “green” electricity stations are up and running, then the country would be more able to embrace truly “green” electric vehicles. By then, their limited range and practicality issues should have been addressed. The current crop of electric vehicles available are not truly practical or affordable vehicles.
Only if the funds from a carbon tax were used for the purposes above could it be justified in present circumstances. – Yours, etc,