To explain to the Minister how the PSO operates, the legislation before us, along with the 200 MW the CRU had already planned to acquire, is going to cost families approximately €40 annually. That is how the cost will be applied through the PSO. It could be in transmission charges, or whatever.

The cost associated with the 450 MW is €27, while the cost of the 200 MW already under way is €12, giving us a total of €39. I apologise, I was €1 out, but that is roughly the cost we are talking about. If that is applied and the PSO is negative, that is €40 less those families will get back. We have stipulated in this legislation that if there is a saving to be made, it would be passed back to families. Ultimately, this money is being taken out of the pockets of families to subsidise electricity going into data ce…

No.

The Minister does not believe that it is even costing families.

It is not a fight over an acronym; it is a fight over a cost to families.

I thank Deputy Whitmore for throwing a bit of light on things.

Costs have not gone down in the past 12 months.

In four years' time.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the chickens coming home to roost Bill. None of what is before us should come as a surprise to anyone, particularly anyone in government because over a long number of years they have been made well aware of the issues we are facing now. We are told the objective behind the Bill is to provide temporary electricity generation to replace older power plants and meet the growing demand for electricity caused by data centres. Interestingly, on 7 June 2018, after a very long, protract…

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach and welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion. The Opposition will put forward its case for an emergency budget. The Government will respond that there is no need for one and that it will address these issues in October. The reality is that there are practical steps that can be taken today which would make a real difference to families who are struggling. The Minister and I sat down around the table when we were negotiating Project Ireland 2040. At that time, we set a target…

I will raise a point of order before I speak to this. I will place on the record my very strong objection to the removal of three of the six minutes allocated to me for this vitally important debate, which was scheduled to be taken on 1 June. As I tried to facilitate the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy O'Donovan, in being present for the debate, my opportunity to put the case forward on behalf of the local community has been significantly curtailed. I want the record to …

The Minister of State referenced two Departments, agencies and the local authority. Unless we establish a multi-agency task force and use the families around Lough Funshinagh as test cases, we will be setting in stone that the only climate mitigation measure that can be taken in any part of the country and has an impact of any kind on a European designated site is to have families relocated and the existing homes demolished. This has major implications across the country and has been highlighted in the corresponden…

I move amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 1: A. "To insert the following after "notes that:": "— the cheapest barrel of oil is the one not burned and calls on the Government to reduce fossil fuel consumption by: — immediately approving applications received under the National Retrofitting Scheme, which are presently delayed by up to six months, if the homeowner has been fortunate enough to secure an assessment; — expediting the rollout of the National Broadband Plan, thus reducing the need to travel to work; — increa…

At present, just three primary schools and one secondary school are providing autism-specific classes in the wider Athlone area. This is grossly inefficient to meet the current needs and no new classes are planned for September, which is completely unacceptable. It needs to be urgently addressed. Four weeks ago, I raised in the House with the Minister of State the lack of secondary school places for children with autism in Athlone and south Roscommon, which will force students to travel up to 100 km each day to ava…

I also welcome the students, who are very welcome to Leinster House. I acknowledge the work of Ms Cáit Nic Amhlaoibh, who worked on this motion with us. As Deputy Berry pointed out, we are signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. We are telling the Russian Federation and the British Government that international laws and international agreements are in place and, as a State, we are asking those countries to abide by them. It is only just and proper then that w…

Quite a number of colleagues have raised the issue of the acceleration of the transition to a green economy over the course of the Order of Business. Last December, Dáil Éireann overwhelmingly passed a motion that, among other things, called on the Government to design a strategy in conjunction with the European Commission to fund and construct an Atlantic electricity interconnector that would plug west-coast renewable electricity directly into the European grid. This would provide large quantities of clean and gre…

The agriculture sector is facing an emissions reduction target of 30% by 2030 due to the failure by the Government to progress any actions over the past two years to reduce emissions. While plenty of stick is being doled out to farmers to meet these targets, there is not too much carrot. What is being planned to encourage farmers to sequester carbon and get rewarded for it?

I am afraid not too much excitement was relayed in that response. As the Minister of State knows, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has pointed out that mitigating greenhouse gases alone will not get us to net zero. We need to increase our carbon stocks, and measuring what we have in our soils, hedges and trees is key to that, in addition to improving our soil health and, in turn, storing more carbon in our soil and rewarding farmers. To do this, we need to establish a carbon measuring, reporting and ve…

We will not get a baseline with 20 sites. To get the ball rolling, we need to support a comprehensive carbon soil analysis programme throughout this country. We need to roll out the airborne light detection and radar surveys on our land. Instead of expanding the airborne surveys, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications has suspended its existing programme, but should we be surprised? The Government has net deforestation by felling more trees than it is planting. Farmers and homeowners have not…

As Deputies, we are frequently contacted by patients or their families about the latest medicine for a specific illness that can transform the life of a patient. They are looking for approval under the drug reimbursement scheme. This is all part of the rapidly expanding area of healthcare known as personalised medicine. This means that medical care is based on the patients' own genes and specific disease. We know that genes are the information that tells cells in the body how to grow and develop. For example, many …