Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-16
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I thank Deputy Ahern for his question. I will reiterate my point that while there has been much discussion this week about various sectors that are vital to the Irish economy, whether they are farmers or fishers, hauliers or the likes, the fundamental point here is that this Government's package supports everybody because the PAYE worker and everybody else in this country needs food on the shelves. They need the ports operating, not blockaded. They need to make sure that our supply chains work. Many of the PAYE workers pulled up at petrol pumps this morning where the cost of petrol and diesel, while still too high, is lower than it was before we voted. In fairness, the Labour Party supported the cut on the excise this week as well. Crucially, measures that we take to try to somewhat contain - because no Government can fully insulate - the impact of very significant rising costs caused by the war in Iran help keep inflation down or at least moderate the growth of inflation. That does genuinely have a benefit for all of us in society, including PAYE workers.
I am really pleased that there is a meeting taking place tomorrow at the Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF. As the Deputy knows, it is the body that brings together trade union representatives, employer representatives and senior members of the Government, including myself and the Taoiseach. It is more important than ever that we have really good and intensive engagement. I mean this sincerely: at challenging times in the history of this State, the trade union movement has stepped up time and time again and played a positive role. That does not mean, by the way, that we always agree on everything. I do not want to kill their street cred and I certainly do not agree with them on everything but having constructive engagement in process at times of challenge is something I value. This Government values it and I think this Oireachtas values it. I heard the comments of the general secretary of ICTU this week as well in relation to that. We should challenge ourselves, after the week that this country has had, to make sure we have very robust and constructive structures in place for ongoing engagement. I want to say that too.
In relation to renewables, I will start with a positive. Half of all electricity generated in this country in March came from renewables. It was the first time. I think it was 49%, just under half. We are making some progress. We need to do more and we need to do it faster because - and I agree with the Deputy on this point - as long as we are dependent on dirty fossil fuels from abroad, there is a security issue in every sense, including an economic security issue. However, we are making some progress under the work of the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. We saw 58,000 homes retrofitted last year. We have seen a record demand this year, with over 29,000 applications already in. We have improved the grants. I am sure that the Deputy was hearing from his constituents that it was cumbersome to have to do everything together. I was certainly hearing it from mine. As a result of those changes, the approval of the grants for heat pumps is up 95%, roof insulation is up 81% and cavity wall insulation is up 62% as well. In fact, in March alone there were more than 6,000 grant applications for windows and more than 6,000 grant applications for doors. These are encouraging signs.
On the issue of critical infrastructure, critical infrastructure can include renewable energy as well. I genuinely think that we can have different perspectives on this. It is taking far too long to deliver transformational projects, including transformational projects from an energy point of view. The Critical Infrastructure Bill tries to get that balance right.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-16