Brid Smith TD Claims Release Of Draft Climate Report “An Exercise In Spin To Sell A Carbon Tax”

Deputy Brid Smith who is on the Dail Climate Action committee, has said that the leaking of a draft report is “a transparent attempt to sell a carbon tax as inevitable and good”. The TD pointed out that the decision on increasing the current tax had not been taken or voted on by the committee and attempts to spin it in recent media reports as the decision of the committee where “ inaccurate and misleading”

The TD said that the members of the committee had not had a final discussion on any proposed increase and that she was very strongly opposed to this  measure “ Increasing carbon taxes when we have done nothing to give people access to alternatives in public transport, retro fitting their homes or investing in renewable energies is a cop out that won’t reduce our emission but simply acts as a palliative. This tax shifts the blame on to individuals behaviours without addressing the systemic reason for Co2 emissions and of course allows corporate polluters and the fossil fuels industry to continue as normal”