In deference to Deputy Durkan, I might focus on Deputy Ó Cuív in the short few minutes I have because I spoke about agriculture in the first response. It is not only offshore wind. We also have to develop further onshore wind. Many State companies, such as Coillte and Bord na Móna, have considerable potential to do that if our planning system can free up and deliver some of the projects that are stuck in planning. Solar and offshore wind will be a significant part. The offshore wind is in three phases. We are now s…

As we are doing that, in the lifetime of this Government, we will set out the so-called "enduring regime", which is the really big project. In truth, the big power is to the west and north west, if one looks at where the resource is - where the really strong winds are - and where our largest sea area is. Critical to that is getting the environmental conditions right and, therefore, one designates marine area protections and special protection areas, SPAs. Bird life is the critical constraint. We have done a great d…

The EV target is on track. On the sale of EVs, although I cannot remember the exact percentage, roughly one in five new cars is plug-in electric or plug-in hybrid. Everything I see with the car companies shows that they are all switching because of better cars, maintenance is lower, and running costs are lower. That target is the one that is most achievable. I cannot remember the exact figure. It is less than 1 million. That is not the key target. The emissions issue is key. If we only replaced all the cars we have…

We need to look at how we can improve the transport system so that it works, not only on a climate basis but also that we are not all stuck in traffic. It is not only about switching one car for the other. It is about reducing the demand for travel by the likes of remote working and other mechanisms, and not everyone having to drive to Dublin or to move to the big city. For example, our towns being revived would be a way that we could reduce the emissions and reduce the demand for travel. In regard to hydrogen, the…

Solar PV panels are installed under a number of circumstances. For domestic installations, solar PV is installed on new homes, as one of the measures to achieve compliance with Part L of the building regulations. They are also installed on existing buildings through grant supports offered by Government, through the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI. The microgeneration support scheme approved by the Government last December set a target of supporting more than 380 MW of new microgeneration capacity. Thi…

From speaking to solar PV installers there are two real obstacles to the further massive expansion we need to see. The first is the workforce. The people installing it say there is not a shortage of demand but a shortage of skilled workers. These workers will come. I mentioned the apprenticeships the Minister, Deputy Harris, is delivering at scale. These will start to address this. This is the first big constraint. Installing solar PV is difficult to do as every house is slightly different and we need to see whethe…

The Department is working on the matter Deputy O'Dowd has raised but I do not have the details with me. I will come back to him. To respond to Deputy Cowen, it was interesting to meet some solid fuel supply companies yesterday and hear them state they are interested in developing low carbon alternatives for use in solid fuel heating systems. They see this as a big opportunity to develop a new market. There is an issue with regard to HVO because it will be in much demand. It is a waste product that has real value. I…

I recall an Oireachtas trip a number of years ago. A delegation went to Egypt. We happened to meet the secretary-general of the Arab League to discuss various important issues. Before we could say a word, he said that he wanted to say that they will never forget what Irish peacekeepers have done in Lebanon. He said that when militia came to attack a village, Irish soldiers held the line and said, "You shall not pass. We will keep the peace." That may be little comfort to the Rooney family this morning but I hope th…

Next week the Government will consider and, it is hoped, agree the latest iteration of our climate action plan, which is now backed up by significant powers in law for us to deliver sectoral changes in energy, transport, agriculture and industry over the next five or ten to 15 years, moving towards net zero within three decades. I do not think the scale of that change is really understood by any of us yet. Everything will have to change in a relatively short time in order that we play our part in avoiding the burni…

It did not cause it, but one of the reasons our people left the country in droves-----

We learnt the lesson that being open to and working with the world is good for our people. We are a wealthier country now than we were 50 years ago, following that approach. I do not disagree with de Valera - a lot of his ideas were actually quite green in many ways - but I do not believe we should switch back to a protectionist, nationalist approach to this revolution. It will not work, given the scale and speed of change we need. It will not work, given the poverty it would bring our people.

Yes, but let us not go back to a protectionist, nationalist, closed system.

We have to work in that regard within the European Union. Again, I do not think there is full realisation in this House yet of the scale of the legislative change coming from the European Union. There are 20 major pieces of legislation because Europe is similarly following this approach. In that regard there will be a real role for the State. It will be very important we are engaged critically in the planning of how this revolution takes place and in how we deliver the grids - the likes of the transmission grid and…

Nor are the industrial plants. Why would we be restrictive in an open approach to the world? Why would we say only an Irish State company may invest in renewable power? Why would we completely cut ourselves off from the ability to get the scale of funding we will need for this revolution by saying no one else may do this?

Sorry, but they are.

We are just about to start our first auction process for the first of seven offshore projects which, subject to getting to consent and going through the planning system, will be built this decade and will deliver in time for us to meet the second of our three carbon budgets. We will set, as I set out in my convention speech, really ambitious targets, including 5 GW of solar power that we want to deliver in the next three years. The ESB could not do it, full stop - not a chance. That means we would not meet our clim…

The mechanisms we are putting in place are starting to work. This year was a record year for connections of new renewable power, and that will have to increase each year. As I said, this is not just on the electricity side but at home too. We are also on target this year to deliver the upgrades to our homes to make them energy-efficient. That is part of the integrated system to which I referred. It is not just one single old-fashioned, monolithic company being responsible for this; everyone is involved. There are t…

By all means. We agreed in Cabinet yesterday that we would provide a further €10 million which would be targeted at pay-as-you-go families in order that, if in need in the Christmas or winter period or the months following, they would not have to switch off. We want no one going cold, we want no one to have the-----

I met with every one of the companies and with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and MABS. The mechanism we are using is that we are building on what is working. We are saying to customers who are in any way at risk to contact their energy supply company, and there are means and mechanisms, including the social welfare office, but also this additional fund, a belt-and-braces approach, to make sure that people do not face that prospect. They have resources and we are providing resources-----

No guarantee, but what is important-----