The director general of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr Mary Kelly, has said she is "disappointed" with the Government's decision to abandon its plans for a carbon tax on fossil fuels.
Dr Kelly said that while the proposal would have led to a limited reduction in greenhouse gases, it would have sent out a positive long term signal to the public.
In her first public statement since the Government abandoned its plans during the summer for the tax, she said it would have led to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 500,000 tonnes. She was speaking in Portlaoise at a conference on the key challenges facing the Irish environment.
This meant that other measures would have to be introduced to achieve similar reductions. "We have to find it from somewhere," she said. "It leaves a gap in the system that will have to be filled."
She acknowledged that because companies involved in the emissions trading scheme would be exempt from the tax, "the burden of taxation was going to fall on smaller businesses and it would have had a significant implication for fuel poverty among low income households".
Dr Kelly said she believed the tax should have been introduced "The value of the tax is that it would have sent a signal to people about the value of the environment," she said.
"It does give a signal that there is a price on it." She expected the shortfall left by having no tax, would be addressed through the current review of the Government's Climate Change Strategy, which first recommended the tax.
Ireland faces significant fines if it fails to reduce greenhouse gas levels to 13 per cent above 1990 levels. Current levels stand at 23 per cent. She said the reform of the Common Agriculture Policy, along with the emissions trading system, would lead to significant reductions. Despite the developments, Dr Kelly acknowledged that Ireland would face serious difficulties achieving its emissions target.
"The size of the problem at the moment is very difficult, it has to be admitted," Dr Kelly said.
At the conference, motoring lobbyists claimed family cars were not the cause of the significant increase in greenhouse gases. Mr Conor Faughnan of the AA said private cars created 18 per cent of all greenhouse gases but paid 90 per cent of all fuel taxes.
"The family car is not the problem any more," he said. He added that the development of the catalytic converter, and the banning of leaded petrol, meant the major transport pollution came from heavy diesel engines, used for the transport of goods and called for car tax to be based on emission levels "not engine size".
Dr Kelly rejected this and said transport was the single biggest problem in terms of reducing greenhouse gases. She said emissions from the transport sector have increased by 180 per cent since 1990. "Transport is a huge problem. It's the most difficult and the most intractable area," she said. "We do need to use more public transport and get people out of private cars."