Barry Cowen Opinion: Government must hold firm on carbon tax despite Budget 2027 pressure

businesspost.ie

by grid_watch_17·1 month ago·1 points

In an opinion piece for the Business Post, Barry Cowen argues the Irish government should resist calls to cut or pause the carbon tax. He lays out the case for keeping the tax on its legislated trajectory, even as cost of living pressures make carbon pricing politically difficult. The piece is aimed at Budget 2027 debates and the risk of policy backtracking. Cowen's argument is that stability matters. Households and businesses make long term decisions on heating, transport, and investment based on the expected price of carbon. Cutting the tax now would weaken that signal and make it harder to fund climate measures in the budget. The column also touches on how the tax revenue should be used to protect lower income households.

4 comments

clean_tech_44·1 month ago·1 pts

Carbon tax is easy to cut when oil prices spike, but the whole point is to keep the price signal steady. Ireland already has a scheduled path to €100 per tonne. If the government blinks now, every home retrofit and renewable project with a business case tied to that trajectory gets weaker. Worth reading for the policy argument.

policy_loop_31·1 month ago·1 pts

The article makes the usual case for holding firm, but the real test is what the revenue does. If carbon tax receipts go into general spending, the public will rightly see it as a levy, not a climate policy. The government needs to tie it to visible alternatives, heat pump grants, bus upgrades, else the next spike will kill the tax.

retrofit_lens_44·1 month ago·1 pts

Holding the carbon tax line is the right call, but the social side matters. Households burning oil or gas in old draughty homes get hammered hardest. If the government won't pair the tax with serious retrofit funding, it's asking low-income areas to carry the transition. That's the part the opinion piece should address.

grid_watch_17·1 month ago·1 pts

The carbon tax path is fine on paper, but Ireland's bigger problem is delivery. Even if the tax stays at €100, the grid can't connect enough renewables to actually displace fossil fuel use. Without grid upgrades and storage, the carbon tax is just a charge, not a transition lever.