Just Transition
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-18
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Timmy Dooley (FF), Clare

Both Deputies show regular interest in this and have spoken on it in the past. The point about not leaving anybody behind is really important and it has been the focus. Deputy Cronin and I, and her party, are aligned on lots of issues. I sat with Deputy Stanley, a former member of her party, on that committee for years and certainly Sinn Féin was very committed to the transition, but we disagreed ultimately on how to pay for it. We sided with the idea of the carbon tax, the hypothecation of that fund and using that to assist people in moving forward. Sinn Féin had a different view but nonetheless recognised the importance of ensuring nobody was left behind. I felt at the time, and still do, that the carbon charge was a way of discouraging the long-term use of fossil fuels and taking that as a methodology to assist exactly the people the Deputy spoke about. What I outlined to her indicates, particularly with the warmer homes scheme, what we have done for people with low incomes, namely, classifying them as in the energy poverty category and targeting that.
The issue Deputy McGrath described has been raised with me, the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, on a very regular basis. Deputy McGrath and others have mentioned it in the House. The Minister is very cognisant of that and my understanding is he is working towards bringing some reforms in this area.
We would all like to do a deep retrofit that would get us in line. Most of us cannot afford it. We are paying our mortgages or are working our way through that. Windows and doors and a little bit of insulation can have a massive impact on emissions from homes, on reducing the cost of energy and on reducing the burden on society generally from the emissions and the generation of electricity and the difficulties around that. I will certainly take that point back to the Minister but he has already begun a process there.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:29+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-18