Under section 9F of the Electricity Regulation Act 1999, as amended, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities is responsible for the regulation of gas installers with respect to safety. I refer the Deputy to the CRU, as a statutorily independent regulator, for updates and timelines on this matter in the first instance. The CRU will shortly seek to introduce a statutory instrument to regulate non-domestic gas works by expanding the scope of the registered gas installers, RGI, regime. My Department has delegated to…

I am reassured by Deputy O'Rourke's comments that some of those concerns may have been addressed. This development has been under consideration for ten years, going right back to 2014 when it was first proposed. In the intervening years, the CRU has carried out a lot of consultation. I can understand why people would be concerned about the implications of any change in their industry but I am absolutely confident. The sign that we are going to get this right is that we are not rushing it through and that further co…

Those domestic areas have already been regulated for some time. Deputy Ó Murchú has been consistent in representing his constituents who, during the gas price spike, found themselves facing huge increases, so I am familiar with that. To answer Deputy O'Rourke's question, the options he mentioned, particularly the likes of heat pumps or other renewable sources to provide more predictable pricing and a secure solution, is one of the ways we need to go. We need to look at district heating in a variety of different gui…

The programme for Government commits that carbon tax revenues will be used to ensure carbon tax increases are progressive by spending €3 billion on targeted social welfare and other initiatives to prevent fuel poverty and ensure a just transition; to provide €5 billion to part-fund a socially progressive national retrofitting programme; and to allocate €1.5 billion to encourage and incentivise farmers to farm in a greener and more sustainable way. Between 2020 and 2023, my Department spent €482.1 million of carbon …

I believe we can meet our climate obligations and targets, which we need to do to protect our people from the incredible damage that will be done if we do not stop runaway climate change. The fact that last year, our emissions dropped by 6.8% shows it is possible. It is not just for environmental reasons. There are many social benefits as we make this switch to green. There are also, critically, benefits for the economy. I happened to be at the European Energy Council today and at the European Environment Council y…

I fear that the Deputy's words may be stoking suspicion and are not a true reflection of what is actually happening. First, we will likely meet our target for the number of electric vehicles on the road by the end of next year. I would like to see it higher and faster but we are on track. We are providing infrastructure. This summer, we agreed major investment, which is actually happening and being built, with high-speed fast charging in our motorway stations, and in our sports clubs across the country, where peopl…

We changed the tax code 15 or 20 years ago because we wanted to support lower emissions vehicles.

Thirty-five years ago we read and understood the science of climate change and the need for action.

I would like to see Deputy Murphy supporting-----

What I would love to see Deputy Murphy supporting, as part of this new investment to a green economy, is the investment in Rosslare Harbour. It is at the centre of a new, cleaner way of doing things, including the reintroduction of rail freight and the restoration of the rail line from Wexford to Waterford-----

-----to revitalise both.

That is the future. It is going green.

Ireland’s all-of-government international climate finance roadmap, published in July 2022, sets out the strategy for achieving our international climate finance targets, which involve more than doubling our funding for developing countries to €225 million annually by 2025. This commitment was made in 2021 by my colleague the Tánaiste at COP26 in Glasgow. Since 2020, we have more than doubled our climate finance. Ireland’s 2023 climate finance expenditure is expected to be confirmed as totalling more than €156 milli…

This is very rare, but I disagree with the Deputy. Climate finance is overseas development aid. It fits absolutely within international definitions as well as the rules and spirit of what overseas development aid is about. It is about protecting the most vulnerable. It is, as the Deputy said, bottom up. It is about building resilience. We are good at it in this country because we have a culture and tradition going right back to our missionaries in Africa and elsewhere. We have learned over decades how to actually w…

I agree with the Deputy's latter point. Public finance will be important, but it is going to be challenging because we in the developed world have to extend more and there should also be a broadening of contributors to that. We should be very careful here. Last Friday, I spoke to one of the leaders of one of the African states who is a real expert and a brilliant leader in the area. He said that he wants private finance. He said that private finance is key but that Africa cannot get private finance. I will give an …

The community energy grant scheme is part of the Government's national retrofit programme. It aims to upgrade groups of buildings to high energy efficiency and renewable energy standards across communities in an efficient and cost-effective way. Capital funding of €45 million is provided for the scheme this year. The primary objective of the scheme is to support and maximise the number of home energy upgrades delivered. This includes upgrades to energy-poor, private, rental and approved housing body homes. Last yea…

I hear the Deputy's concerns. They are reflected in fact that with an AHB or some similar multi-apartment model, it is a 50% grant, whereas if it is dealing with a commercial rental organisation, REIT or others, it is a 30% grant. I am not so certain about the risks. The benefit is that it will mean lower cost for the tenant. We have a real difficulty in the rental sector. Tenants do not have agency or control and they end up paying higher bills unless the building is retrofitted. I said earlier that we should leav…

I take both recommendations. It is a valid point. We need to monitor, measure and continually adapt. If there are signs that retrofitting is leading to big rent increases, increased evictions or any other such measure, obviously we would have to adjust and see what can be done. It is right to start going into the rental sector, however, and make sure it is not left behind. We need to monitor and adjust as we do so. It is an iterative process. It is important to give a signal in the medium term. One of the benefits …

I will not read the prepared written response because it is similar to the answer I gave to the first question. All these questions relate to a similar issue. I do not see any implications other than for a potential project. In Ireland's case a non-commercial temporary strategic storage facility would go through the strategic infrastructure process rather than to the local authority. That is a fairly standard process and procedure. The only reason for the amendment is to make sure that it is legally sound in any su…

On the amendments, this is a very extensive Bill. It was 900 pages in the end and there were 150-odd amendments on the last Stage in the Seanad. My sense from officials is that issue was about making sure the law was not contradictory in some sense. There were changes because we only established MARA last year and made the switch from the foreshore licensing system to this new marine planning system. That accounts for why an amendment may have come in late but I do not think we should read any more into it. We have…