-----and that is what the plan we are publishing today will do. Today's Government decisions are significant. They represent a very significant ramping up of the retrofitting agenda. Deputy Devlin raised the issues of attic insulation and cavity walls, for which the grants are to be up to 80%. There will be a significant take-up. We will facilitate people to proceed on a phased basis. The grants are far more generous than any we have had before. Deputy Boyd Barrett should note it would not be feasible to announce t…

The key challenge for us, even in the targets we have set, as alluded to by Deputy Duncan Smith and others, is on the skills front. That is why it is important that we map out how the carbon tax revenues will be used for the retrofitting programme. Approximately €5 billion in carbon tax revenue will be used for retrofitting over the next decade. That is what is enabling it to happen. Without it, it just could not be done at the scale we are attempting to achieve. The skills part is the key.

The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science is working on ramping up in respect of the skills requirements. We need to give the industry certainty and clarity regarding the roadmap and invest in-----

Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan raised the issues of woodland and forestry. I accept the points he was making. I am uncomfortable with Coillte selling valuable woodlands of the kind in question given that, to me, Coillte, Bord na Móna and other State agencies must now be leaders in respect of climate change. To be fair to Coillte, it has done some fantastic work across the country.

To be honest with the Deputy, we have an enormous challenge ahead of us to achieve what will be in those carbon budgets. We need everybody in the House to support this. We currently do not have the support, even in the House, to achieve the targets we have set.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 to 19, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on economic recovery and investment first met on 8 July 2020. It has met a total of 17 times, most recently on 13 December. The next meeting is scheduled for this Thursday. Membership of the committee comprises the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Ministers for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Transport, Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gael…

What is it?

There was quite a range of questions. In response to Deputy Smith's question on MetroLink, as far as I am concerned, we need to get it going. It will happen. It could be subject to delays. If there are planning delays or judicial reviews, that will delay it, but some of those issues are beyond our control and people are entitled to exercise their rights, and so on. However, we should be under no illusion that one of the biggest challenges for infrastructural projects in this country is progressing through all the v…

The council, yes. It should have had more. Other local authorities are doing much better on the social housing front and in 2022 the target is 9,000 additional builds through approved social housing bodies and through the council. I am not clear whether the approved social housing bodies-----

I am not clear whether the approved social housing bodies-----

We do not run too many councils these days. We have a healthy-----

We have the largest number of councillors across the country but, as the Deputy is aware, all councils are fragmented between different parties. It takes a collective-----

What I have known in many councils, though, is that many parties to the left just keep opposing housing developments until the cows come home.

Deputy Paul Murphy raised the issue of retail and hospitality workers. Again, just on the minimum wage, ours is the second highest in Europe right now. Even if you take in purchasing power, we are the sixth highest within the European Union. I think we need balance. We are above the average European wage. Again, we support wage increases, particularly linked to productivity. We do not want to go chasing inflation forever because that does not work, but we do believe we can introduce measures that will help people o…

That is an extraordinary recovery in our economy which one would not-----

Well it has been an extraordinary recovery. Employment is the best way out of low pay.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 to 28, inclusive, together. As the House will be aware, the most recent Citizens' Assembly, on gender equality, concluded its work in June 2021. In the intervening period, circumstances pertaining to the Covid-19 pandemic have meant that it has not been possible, until now, to arrange for the establishment and running of further assemblies. The recent easing of public health restrictions means it is once again possible to plan for the running of assemblies with in-person meetings…

I welcome the comments made in respect of the biodiversity citizens’ assembly articulated by Deputies McDonald and Christopher O’Sullivan. I take the point that we need to do more in a review of the NPWS and indeed the agri-environmental scheme. We need to work on this as that is why the carbon tax is important to provide funding for that agri-environmental scheme. On the citizens’ assembly on drugs, raised by Deputies Ó Ríordáin and Hourigan, I said that this would not happen until the latter part of the year but …

I answered that earlier. My own view on reconciliation on the island is that we need to engage at both political party and community level with different traditions coming together. I am not clear that a citizens’ assembly is the best model for dialogue and for the more consistent long-haul engagement that is required. This is the sort of long-haul engagement that was required that led to the Good Friday Agreement. A citizens’ assembly would not have led to the Good Friday Agreement.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Tá a fhios agam go mbeidh Teachtaí tríd an Teach ag déanamh ómóis inniu do mo chara agus iar-chomhghleacaí Noel Treacy, atá imithe ar shlí na fírinne. I express my deepest sympathies to Mary and to the family on the death of Noel Treacy, who had a long and distinguished public life. He came into Dáil Éireann in 1982. He served as Minister in many portfolios, including at the Department of the Taoiseach and in roles with responsibility for European affairs and education and …