Cement companies are bound to make a lot of money from selling surplus CO2 emission permits; see Irish Times.
The atmosphere is the common property of humankind. The European Union appropriated part of that. Instead of using this to the advantage of all Europeans, it decided to give most of it to selected companies and some of it to the Member States. The government of Ireland decided to pass its share on to the same companies.
These decisions were made years ago and cannot be reversed. In fact, emission allocations have been decided until 2020. We’ve been had, again.