NO DECISION HAS been reached around the postponed carbon tax measure that was pushed out to October, according to T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The deferral of the planned carbon tax measures was announced in April, following the fuel protests.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The government announced that a planned increase due to kick in on 1 May 2026 of \u20ac71 per tonne would be postponed until 14 October 2026.<\/p>\n
Carbon tax is levied on fuels: coal, peat, home heating oil, natural gas supplies to consumers and, of course, petrol and diesel.<\/p>\n
The T\u00e1naiste said today no decision has been made in relation to October and the carbon tax increases, stating that there are things the government must consider.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He pointed to the recent tax strategy papers which propose a range of policy options regarding the carbon tax, such as differentiating on fuel types.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters in Dublin today, he said times have changed since the carbon tax measures were first introduced.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo let me be crystal clear: the Programme for Government supports carbon tax, I support carbon tax\u2026 the trajectory was set before there was a war in Ukraine, before there was the situation in the Middle East. So there are policy options for government to consider, and government will consider all of them in the round,\u201d he added, stating:\n<\/p>\n
\nNone of them are free; all of them have fiscal implications. But we will obviously, as a government, consider that in the round.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Fuel supports costing \u20ac100 million per month<\/p>\n
Speaking about the D\u00e1il being recalled to continue excise cuts that are in place, Harris said\u00a0the cost of continuing with the excise reductions on petrol and diesel is around \u20ac100 million per month.<\/p>\n
Harris said it is being funded by running a smaller budget surplus this year.<\/p>\n
The government will revisit the matter ahead of November, he added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was confirmed last week that the government will not cease fuel supports in September as had previously been planned.<\/p>\n
The planned increases on 1 September and 1 October will not now go ahead, with the D\u00e1il being recalled on Friday to amend legislation to push the supports out for longer.<\/p>\n
Harris said when the D\u00e1il rose in July, diesel and petrol prices were in a vastly different position to where they are now.<\/p>\n
Pushing out the fuel supports for longer is a \u201cconsidered approach\u201d, he said, stating that the government will continue to monitor the global markets and the impact it\u2019s having at the pumps on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
He said no one can predict where the energy markets are going in the next few months, but he will take the best economic advice available to make decisions at the right moment in time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019ve been very clear on is that September and October will remain without change. In other words, the excise situation will remain at the current level. We also intend to continue the diesel rebate scheme too, and we will then, in advance of November, take stock of the situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s impossible to predict where things will be in November. If we were having this conversation in July, there\u2019s no doubt we would have been able to proceed with the excise changes. So that that is literally the fluidity of the world we\u2019re living in,\u201d added Harris.<\/p>\n
In terms of October\u2019s budget, he said the cost-of-living is a priority, stating that he is very conscious that fuel costs and energy costs are a real burden on families and on individuals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s people in this country who are playing by the rules, working their backside off, and still find at the end of the week or the end of the month they look at the payslip and go, is that it? And they need a bit of assistance, too. And the only assistance can\u2019t be through the social welfare system. That\u2019s not fair. That\u2019s not right.<\/p>\n
\u201cWork has to pay as well. And that\u2019s why things like an income tax package matter. It\u2019s why childcare matters,\u201d added Harris.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NO DECISION HAS been reached around the postponed carbon tax measure that was pushed out to October, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,184773,140929,13,14,177489,169360,6,11,12,15,16,5,12129,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":["post-656283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-budget-2027","tag-carbon-tax","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-fuel-costs","tag-fuel-prices","tag-headlines","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-october","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-world","tag-world-news","tag-worldnews"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117158113652694857","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}