It is scandalous that more than half a billion euro raised for climate action measures through a fuel tax has been left unspent when it could have been used for the rollout of a nationwide solar panel installation programme, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore.<\/p>\n
Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on climate, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was reported today in the Irish Independent that financial statements from the Climate Action Fund show that 70 per cent of the money raised through a 2 cent levy on petrol and diesel has been left unspent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis levy, which was recently reduced due to the fuel price crisis, is paid to the National Oil Reserve Agency (NORA). Most of the money raised through the levy is transferred into the Climate Action Fund (CAF) to fund climate action projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, it has now emerged that the Climate Action Fund has left \u20ac278m unspent between 2020 and 2024. This comes at a time when \u20ac258m in carbon tax revenues went back to the Exchequer between 2020 and 2023 instead of to climate causes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe end result is that \u20ac536m collected in taxes on fuel for climate action measures has not been spent over recent years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is scandalous that money raised for climate action measures has been left unspent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means there are tens of thousands of homes all over the country that haven\u2019t been able to avail of solar panels or retrofitting \u2013 and thousands of farmers who haven\u2019t received the level of support they should have for a just transition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe failure to invest this money is not just bad for our climate ambitions, it is having hugely negative impacts on people during a cost-of-living crisis that is putting so many people under enormous pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that solar panels, for example, can reduce household energy bills by at least \u20ac450 a year \u2013 yet only a tiny fraction of homes that are eligible for them have installed them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Social Democrats have proposed a \u2018Solar for All\u2019 plan, which would dramatically expand and improve supports for solar panels installation \u2013 starting with doubling the existing grant from \u20ac1,800 to \u20ac3,600.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeparately, we would reinstate the \u20ac1,000 grant that used to exist for battery storage, which the Government inexplicably cut in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would also include free solar panels as part of the Warmer Homes Scheme, so families most at risk of energy poverty could get them installed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government should now do what they should have done years ago \u2013 immediately invest money raised through the fuel tax to help families reduce costs and protect our environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
May 8, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It is scandalous that more than half a billion euro raised for climate action measures through a fuel tax has been left unspent when it could have been used for the rollout of a nationwide solar panel installation programme, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on climate, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[405,539,727,268,7,842],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate","category-energy","category-environment","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release","category-solar"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n