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Open Thread: Carbon tax has increased, but will it make you change your behaviour?

Finance minister Paschal Donohoe announced an increase of €6 per tonne in the carbon tax.

IT CAME AS a surprise to no one that a carbon tax increase was included in today’s Budget. Much-flagged for months, the only speculation was about how much the tax hike would be. 

Finance minister Paschal Donohoe told the Dáil that an increase of €6 per tonne will come into effect at midnight tonight for petrol and diesel, while for home-heating fuels the increase will kick in from May 2020. 

The measure is controversial – critics say that it hits the poor the hardest, while people in rural areas will also be more affected. 

The finance minister admitted as much today. “I know that this will not be easy for everyone,” Donohoe said.

“While Brexit represents our most immediate economic risk, climate change is, without doubt the defining challenge of our generation.”

So the aim is clear – to reduce carbon emissions and encourage people to change their behaviour.

Will it work? Only time will tell. 

But what do you think? Is the carbon tax increase making you re-consider your behaviour?

Let us know in the comments…

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    Mute Seán C
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:04 AM

    Won’t someone please think of those kindly, definitely not bigoted orangemen. What are they going to do for their culture fires in July?

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    Mute Tweety McTweeter
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:11 AM

    @Seán C: Those weren’t culture fires. They were heat treating the pallets for pests

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    Mute Seán C
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:15 AM

    @Tweety McTweeter: bravo sir!

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    Mute John Cotter
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:18 AM

    @Tweety McTweeter: always thought to was part of the cash for ash scheme

    49
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    Mute Shelly Levine
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 12:08 PM

    @Tweety McTweeter: Green is the new orange?

    12
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    Mute Patrick Nolan
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:06 AM

    Non compliant pallets…… Learn something new every day!

    71
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    Mute George Weener
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:07 AM

    I have seen metal and plastic pallets…. Thay dont need to use wood… More scaremongering!

    48
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    Mute Vocal Outrage
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:11 AM

    @George Weener: the vast majority of pallets are wooden though. Compliant ones will be manufactured, but due to the late notice it would take a few months to get adequate supplies, so not scaremongering, rather a genuine concern

    128
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    Mute Fr. Fintan Stack
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:17 AM

    @George Weener: Plastic pallets on the queyside, in run down warehouses, etc. Yeah, great idea alright.

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    Mute Denis Moynihan
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:18 AM

    @George Weener: Have you checked the availability and cost of the alternatives before declaring it as scaremongering?

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    Mute Brianto
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:27 AM

    @Vocal Outrage: late notice? They’ve had 3 years!!!!

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    Mute George Weener
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:34 AM

    @Denis Moynihan: I have read about a new start up company in Ireland that is making pallets from recycled plastic. Hopefully they will get a good kick start from this problem. It will create irish jobs and get rid of some of our landfill plastic packaging.

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    Mute Vocal Outrage
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:44 AM

    @Brianto: oh, I agree, by the late notice I meant the fact that the British authorities only flagged this in the UK in the last few weeks, it had been noted in Ireland long before that, but no-one actually acted upon it as the respective governments both kept saying a deal would be struck

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    Mute Niallers
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 12:24 PM

    @George Weener: More expensive. Adds to the cost of doing business.

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    Mute Barry Whelan
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 4:31 PM

    @George Weener: Plastic pallets are rubbish. Doesn’t take much force to break them,they slide on trailer floors and forklifts. Not commonly used at all.

    11
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    Mute EillieEs
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    Mar 3rd 2019, 2:41 AM

    @George Weener: plastic pallets cost about five times more than wooden but can take only half the weight.

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 12:53 PM

    Every 12th July little gits burn the blue pallets up North, so who in businesses pay for those pallets and why does the police up there not take them back as ALL blue pallets ARE stolen property. It proves the police up there support stolen property being destroyed as well as ignore it being stolen as blue pallets are blue because they are rented pallets by companies.

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    Mute Patrick Nolan
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 2:09 PM

    @TamuMassif2019:
    The losses to business because of the riots caused by any attempt to take back the pallets would be far greater than the value of the pallets.

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:28 PM

    @Patrick Nolan: Wait until waste burning laws comes in lol.

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    Mute Ben Jamen
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:04 AM

    That’s going to cause a lot of problems in the retail industry alone.

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    Mute Paul Murphy
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 12:35 PM

    Pellets / pallets….the DUP must be hysterical

    22
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    Mute Liam Dunne
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 1:08 PM

    @seamus Murphy. Have you any idea how big a problem this could be? Almost everything that moves nowadays moves on pallets. This would add enormous expense to everything here in Ireland and add huge delays.

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    Mute Donal Desmond
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:49 AM

    Anyone hear of the 12th July…

    13
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    Mute Seamus Murphy
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 12:07 PM

    I’d say if that’s the biggest problem with Brexit we won’t be too bad.

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    Mute Michael Maher
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 3:30 PM

    More bull….

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    Mute Ben Jamen
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 11:03 AM

    That’s

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    Mute Mill Lane
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 5:23 PM

    Let me guess the Brit’s can’t decide on what to rename the Euro pallets so they will want to kick the cam down the road for another few months.

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    Mute Cathal
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 8:49 PM

    @Mill Lane: Euro pallet isn’t used that much, standard 4×5 foot pallet is the commonest.

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    Mute Tom Doyle
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 6:38 PM

    Ah nearly there now once the Pallets are sorted.

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    Mute Darren Swords
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 7:27 PM

    The UK already has a different pallet, the euro pallet is 800 x 1200mm which is the industry standard & the UK pallet is 1200 x 1000mm.
    Always wondered why they had to have a different pallet.

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    Mute Cathal
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    Mar 2nd 2019, 8:54 PM

    @Darren Swords: There are multiple pallet sizes ,The DD or Dusseldorf pallet which is half the size of a europallet is also quite common. USA and Canada also use the UK standard pallet.

    3
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