I want to thank the Deputies for their remarks. The legislation includes the notion of ring-fencing. It may not use the word "targeted" but it is required to be targeted in law and that is understood. It is not just understood but it is legally enforceable because it is within the EU law. I have outlined to the Deputies the mechanism by which that works. It will be a scheme drawn up by the CRU, along with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, and presented to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, fo…

I have the honour of being in charge of the largest capital programme in the State, namely, the national broadband plan, which is bringing fibre broadband to every home, farm and business in rural Ireland. How is the project doing? An extra €136 million has been allocated for this year. Why do I have that extra money? I have it because that project is going at a much faster rate this year than it was last year, and it is anticipated to continue at that rate. At the current rate, part way through next year we will h…

I am pleased to have the opportunity to appear before the Seanad to contribute to the debate on budget 2024, which the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform presented to the Dáil earlier today. Budget 2024 is a budget that invests in the country’s future, in its people, in its infrastructure and in its public services. At the same time, the Government recognises the need to address peoples’ concerns about the pressures and additional costs they are facing every day. We are a…

I will address all the comments I heard in as far as I can. Senator Cummins presented a general view of the budget. This budget is designed to protect people, invest for the future and make investments in infrastructure, our young people and education, which is the most important area in which to invest, and at the same time avoid generating more inflation. We are not used to having inflation in Ireland. We had a decade with an average of 0.5% inflation; it was 6% last year. We run the risk, at full employment, of …

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which is important. Energy credits were introduced as part of emergency legislation last year. The Cabinet agreed on a special allocation to make sure that the money reached Travellers. The way that was done was that the money was sent to the local authorities. Each local authority was asked to state how many Traveller families it had. A sufficient quantity of money was sent to each local authority to distribute it. After that, I met with Traveller MABS and other Traveller…

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, has statutory responsibility to ensure security of supply and has the duty to monitor electricity supplies and to take such measures as it considers necessary to protect the security of supply. It is assisted in its role by EirGrid, the electricity transmission system operator, and my Department. The CRU has a programme of actions under way to ensure the security of our electricity supply over the coming winters. Regular updates on this programme are published on the…

The temporary energy generation involves four peaking plants in four different sites around the country. One is coming on line in October, another in spring and the other two next year. I can give the Deputy a more detailed timeline outside of this reply. The McCarthy report looks at the reasons for the capacity generation shortfall, that is, the reasons we are in this situation. It was commissioned last year and will explain, from an independent viewpoint, the causes for why we were in a situation where we had to …

Temporary energy generation provides an extra 650 MW. It improves the buffer that is available in terms of a shortfall. The Deputy is asking me exactly what the headroom is. I think that really depends on how many plants suffer from unscheduled downtime. I am not sure it is an entirely predictable figure or something that I can give him.

I will come back to the Deputy with a more detailed response after this session, then. In terms of Moneypoint, it is scheduled to be decommissioned. I am not aware of a suggestion which I think I saw in the media this morning that it would transfer to oil. Oil and coal are the most inefficient and most polluting forms of generating electricity that make the most emissions. Our move is to turn Shannon into a clean energy hub and to use the grid capacity that exists in Moneypoint for clean energy generation and hydro…

The better energy, warmer homes scheme delivers a range of energy-efficiency measures free of charge to low-income households that are vulnerable to energy poverty and it is a top priority for me. The scheme is very popular. Some 20,000 applications were received over the period from January 2022 to the end of August 2023. The scheme is delivering deeper and more complex upgrades in recent years, with the average cost of upgrades increasing to €24,000 in 2023. While more significant works deliver enhanced upgrades …

I agree that we need to go further. This history of this scheme is that there was a time not that long ago when it was difficult for the SEAI to get sufficient applications and interest from people and they were advertising it. They do not have to advertise it now. People understand what retrofit is and they want it. There is no cost to this scheme. It is targeted at people in energy poverty. When there is a price of zero on something there is going to be a queue, particularly when it delivers such incredible value…

From memory, I believe that at least one of these schemes was changed to allow for part works to be done and then to have work done in stages, so people would not be excluded if they had done some of the works and then got more of the works. My understanding is that these schemes are quite comprehensive. The average cost is €24,000 which is quite a deep retrofit. I think in general, people are getting everything done in one go. If the Deputy has a specific example of any of his constituents who were excluded becaus…

Earlier this week, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, announced the provisional results of the third onshore RESS auction, RESS 3. The successful projects, mostly solar PV projects, represent a 12% increase in Ireland’s renewable energy capacity from current levels. This is a positive result for the climate, for security of supply and for maintaining our ambitious programme to support decarbonisation of the wider economy. While these are lower volumes than previous auction rounds, RESS 3 targeted mature, shovel-ready…

My primary priority is to ensure there is a sufficient pipeline of renewable energy projects to meet our 2030 commitments. As part of our sectoral emissions ceilings, we are to decarbonise our electricity sector by 75% by 2030. This will require a large quantity of onshore and offshore wind and solar power. We have published an auction programme calendar out to 2025, we have continuous engagement with the industry and I am always available to meet any of the industry players. I am happy to set up a stakeholder foru…

Community energy projects are critical.

I do not want to see all of our electricity generation being supplied by large multinationals. I want to see community energy production. With that in mind, a community energy support scheme has been developed and is likely to be published in the coming months. It will ensure that people feel a sense of belonging and ownership as regards the electricity generated in their respective areas. The scheme is based on the experience in Denmark and Germany. A focus has been put on community energy by the Minister, Deputy …

I am not giving a commitment on that, but I will revert to Deputy O'Rourke.

Through the first two RESS auctions, my Department provided pathways and supports for communities to participate in renewable energy projects via the application of a community projects category and the requirement of a mandatory community benefit fund for all RESS projects. Furthermore, a community enabling framework for renewable energy projects to provide a package of enabling supports, including technical, financial and legal services, has been rolled out to assist communities in navigating the challenging terr…

The Department's assessment is that auctions are not the best option for renewable energy project support. For this reason, the Department is moving towards supporting community energy projects through a non-competitive renewable energy support scheme. This will take community projects out of the auction practice. If the Deputy wants more details about the results of the auctions beyond what has been published, she can contact my office. I will be happy to try to assist in that way. My Department has analysed the c…

There are comprehensive and deep resources available on the SEAI website at the moment. There are now nine different information guides covering different sectors of what is required in order to set up a community energy scheme.