We’re a small country but we can do something about global warming
We’re a small country but we can do something about global warming HOME TRUTHS: Why the Greens take issue with Herald columnist’s attack on party proposal to introduce carbon tax in bid to end pollution Dr Deirdre De Burca.
I WAS struck by Dr Ruairi Hanley’s recent article in this paper (‘Poor, sick and elderly burned by carbon tax’,
I found his claims about how such a policy might affect the vulnerable in our society particularly dishonest.
As a ‘humble medical practitioner’ Dr Hanley should be very familiar with the scientists who for decades played down the dangers of smoking to suit the interest of the tobacco industry.
Today, we could apply the same scenario and remember that the polluting industries have a lot to lose in the climate change debate.
As the people of
Firstly, for a problem that ‘doesn’t exist’, almost every government in the world has signed up to international commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
These governments, with their access to best expert scientific advice, have accepted that global warming is a reality and that human activities are making a significant contribution to the warming of the earth’s atmosphere.
Secondly, Dr Hanky’s article seems to suggest that because the population of
He chooses to ignore the fact that despite its small size,
His blinkered logic would also prefer to see
Across
These increases are not because of the Green Party, as Dr Hanley would have people believe, but because global demand for these energy sources has risen, while supply has peaked, and the world’s remaining oil and gas supplies are more costly to extract.
The Green Party is the only political party that has promoted solutions to this looming energy crisis by seeking to heavily invest in the development of renewable energy, and energysaving conservation measures.
The Programme for Government negotiated by the Green Party includes EUR100m for home insulation, which will help to protect the elderly and less welloff from fuel poverty.
As for the carbon levy, a measure which Dr Hanley vehemently rejected and criticised, it’s important to make one crucial point.
Under the Programme for Government, such a levy will be directed where the problem is created, and must be introduced in a ‘fiscally neutral’ way. For those of us who don’t have an economics degree, this means that any new taxation must be matched by a reduction in other taxes such as VAT or PRSI. A carbon levy is therefore a different kind of levy, but not an additional one.
As stated in the Green Party’s submission to the Government’s Commission on Taxation – the body examining the introduction of a carbon levy – fuel allowances must be increased in line with the carbon levy, and the funds generated be allocated to projects that will reduce the cost of energy to the vulnerable and elderly. Surely Dr Hanley can see the merit in this?
