The Bill proposes to send the PSO levy directly into the utility accounts of the people and onto the bill as a credit of the electricity customers so they can use it for whatever they want. It will not be the case that the Government will take the PSO levy money and use it as a loan. There will be a low-cost loan scheme for renewable energy, including solar panels and so on, later this year and that will be available to people who normally cannot get credit. That is in the works.

The PSO levy will come from the State and go onto the electricity bills of customers as a credit and they can use the money for whatever they want.

I understand that the loans are backed by the European Investment Bank and by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, which is the State bank. The loans will be provided, presumably, through credit institutions, will be set at a low rate, of approximately 3% I believe, and these loans will be available to people who would not normally be able to get credit.

Yes, and the purpose of the loan is to cover the portion of the retrofit that they cannot afford or get a grant for. If a person has a retrofit job that costs €20,000 and receives a grant of €10,000, the other €10,000 can be borrowed at a low rate.

It is not proposed to specify in this legislation what the companies can use the increased borrowing limits for. A borrowing limit increase for Bord na Móna will underpin the company's brown-to-green transition. The company has ceased its peat harvesting activities and is accelerating the deployment of renewable energy, particularly in these former peat harvesting regions. Just transition is already a part of Bord na Móna's brown-to-green strategy and is being implemented, as seen with the peatlands climate action …

Where is the Senator talking about?

Senator Burke raised an interesting idea. When infrastructure is built, there is an assessment of its negative effect on the environment but there is not often an assessment of the benefits. We have seen surprising benefits to the environment from many infrastructure projects. There is a bird sanctuary in Booterstown in my constituency which was the result of a railway built across the bay 150 years ago. That development trapped some water and a bird sanctuary that was not there before has been the result. Fish are…

During the Second Stage debate, I mentioned that I intended to amend the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 to allow the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, to consider applications for integrated pollution control and industrial emissions licences that are subject to the provisions of section 181 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 and that I intended to address that issue by way of amendment on Seanad Committee Stage. Amendment No. 125 makes provision for the EPA to accept and to process licence appl…

There are two substantial amendments here. The first is to change the EPA Act. This is to allow for the licensing of emergency generators and to allow this to work in terms of planning permission. Currently, under the EPA legislation, a licence can only be granted where planning permission exists. In this case, the EPA Act will be changed to allow for a licence to be granted where planning permission has been disallowed under the emergency provisions introduced to amend the Planning and Development Act 2000. We are…

The use of renewable energy, demand management and community energy supplies are all part of the circular economy and are directly relevant. As Senator Boylan said, we are in an emergency. It is important to keep the lights on and to have security of supply to deal with an energy crisis. I did not mean any disrespect by the way it was introduced. We brought it in as soon as we could. I am happy to continue discussing it on Report Stage. Again, it will go back to the Dáil for further discussion.

I note the Senator's comments.

I will start with Senator Ruane. I absolutely appreciate the intention behind her amendment No. 36 to exempt people with disabilities from the provisions of the Bill. In fact, the Bill provides that regulations will be put in place to work out the details of Bill. I am happy to consider those aspects at that stage. Before we make regulations to put a levy on any particular item, it must go out to public consultation and that is provided for in the Bill. That is the appropriate time to figure out what the exemptions…

The Senator was asking why we should put a limit on the amount, or maybe lower and upper bounds. The reason I am doing that is so that the Minister is not given too much power. I do not want a situation in which the Minister could put a levy of €100 on a cup of coffee, which would make no sense. What we are creating is an executive power for the Minister to, following public consultation, issue a levy on an item that is bad for the environment, but there should be some limit. Senator Ward is a barrister and will un…

The Senator can propose an increase in the levy on Report Stage, which I will consider then, but it cannot be an infinite levy with no upper bounds.

I want to come back to Senator Dooley's point about littering because I did not respond to it earlier.

Senator Ruane can come in if she wants.

I am not accepting Senator Ward's amendment. He is welcome to introduce a modified amendment on Report Stage and I will consider it then. On Senator Dooley's question about introducing a strategy on litter, I will consider that. All of this is relevant to the visible existence of litter. People are concerned about it. They relate to it. The Senator is correct that in the autumn all this litter appears. Anybody involved in Tidy Towns groups is well aware of that.

I thank the Action Chairperson and thank Senator Ruane for these amendments. I do not intend to accept Amendments Nos. 5 and 6 or Nos. 15 to 23, inclusive. Section 8(9) of the Bill is a broadly-drafted provision that provides for how money from the circular economy fund may be used. The section is similar to the corresponding section in respect of the environment fund and it provides for a range of purposes relating to the protection of the environment and the transition to a circular economy. Amendments Nos. 16 to…

Amendment No. 8 is a small drafting amendment relating to the drafting of a poverty impact assessment under section 7. The amendment ensures that the Minister can procure the services of an expert group or body to carry out the assessment, if required, and that it does not have to be carried out by his or her Department. There are other amendments grouped with this one. May I address those?

Should they first be addressed by the Senators who tabled them? What is the normal order here? I do not know the-----