The Government must "bite the bullet" on carbon taxes to avoid hundreds of millions of euro in fines for breaching the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, according to the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen.
Speaking on the publication by the Environmental Protection Agency of a major report on the effects of climate change here, he said a carrot-and-stick approach was needed to encourage industry to switch to cleaner fuels.
Mr Cullen said he believed there was every reason to consider eco-taxes with the budgetary situation the way it was.
However, it is known that such a move has been resisted for the past five years by senior officials from the Department of Finance on competitiveness grounds.
It has also emerged that the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Ms Harney, a former minister of State at the Department of the Environment, is opposed to taxing fossil fuels because of fears about the impact on industry.
But Mr Cullen said Ireland's emissions of greenhouse gases, at 17.7 tonnes per person per year, meant that real reductions would have to be made to meet the Kyoto target of capping the increase in emissions at 13 per cent above 1990 levels by 2010.
He contrasted Ireland's emissions with an average of 13 tonnes per capita in developed countries in general, 10 tonnes per capita in the EU and just two tonnes per capita in the developing world which would, ironically, suffer most from climate change.
Emphasising that he was "firmly committed" to bringing forward carbon taxes, the Minister said there was no reason why Irish industry could not switch from burning the dirtiest fossil fuels, coal and oil, to cleaner alternatives such as natural gas.
He also put it on the record that he was a strong supporter of wind energy and felt it had a great future in Ireland because of its relatively exposed position.
"I simply don't accept the current level of objections to wind farms," he declared.
"Time is not on our side", Mr Cullen said.
"Our emissions are way ahead of our EU counterparts, and unless we bring this ludicrous situation into line we will pay a horrendous price" (in terms of penalties for not meeting Kyoto Protocol targets).
