Carbon tax U-turn ‘will cost taxpayer €1.1bn’

THE taxpayer will have to pay €1.1 billion in fines for the Government’s abandonment of the carbon tax plan because we will fail to comply with international regulations, the Green Party claimed yesterday.

The tax was part of a plan to reduce Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions through the Kyoto Protocol by imposing taxes on petrol, diesel, coal, natural gas and peat.

Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy said yesterday that the Government decided to abandon the carbon tax after a long consultation process showed it would have little impact on our annual targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.