I propose Parliamentary Questions Nos. 16 to 34, inclusive, together.

The Cabinet committee on climate action, environment and energy oversees implementation of the programme for Government commitments in relation to the environment, climate action, energy and emergency planning. It considers the wide range of issues that require action in Ireland’s transition to a low-carbon, climate resilient and sustainable future - a future in which we take full advantage of the renewable energy potential we possess, while ensuring energy policies contribute to energy security, affordability and competitiveness.

Much of Government's attention is currently focused on addressing the immediate cost pressures facing households and businesses arising from the conflict in the Middle East. The measures that have been put in place are helping to alleviate some of the dramatic cost increases experienced in recent months. These measures are necessary and the Government continues to develop further options so we will be in a position to respond as the situation develops.

At the same time, we must acknowledge our reliance on fossil fuels is a vulnerability for us all and makes Ireland susceptible to price and supply shocks from geopolitical events beyond our control. Our diminishing but still significant reliance on gas-powered generation also contributes to higher electricity costs. We are very conscious of the increased financial pressure on households and businesses arising from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The Ministers, Deputies Burke and O’Brien, have and will continue to actively engage with industry representatives, suppliers, and relevant regulators on this matter. To date, over €750 million has been committed to measures to support households and business with increased fuel costs. On 24 March, the Government introduced temporary and targeted measures to reduce fuel costs, including a reduction in excise on petrol by 15 cent and diesel by 20 cent, an increase in the diesel rebate scheme for haulage and bus passenger operators from 7.5 cent up to 12 cent per litre of diesel, a temporary reduction of the NORA levy and the extension of the fuel allowance season by four weeks. This builds on the recent expansion of the fuel allowance to working family payment recipients, which was backdated to 1 January, and an increase in the allowance to €38 per week from 1 January.

Government further agreed on 12 April to new measures targeting fuel costs, amounting to over €500 million, to support the transport, farming and fisheries sectors. These include a reduction in excise on diesel and petrol by a further 10 cent - VAT inclusive - which brings the total reduction on diesel to 32 cent and on petrol to 27 cent, a reduction in excise on marked gas oil by a further 2.4 cent which brings the total reduction on green diesel to 7.4 cent and a deferral of the planned increase in carbon tax scheduled for May 1 until the budget, which will impact green diesel and non-propellant fuels such as kerosene heating oil, natural gas and solid fuels.

A new €100 million fuel subsidy support scheme is being introduced to assist farmers, agricultural contractors and fishers facing unprecedented increases in fuel costs, providing €20 million per month in supports.

Our ultimate goal, through the promotion of renewable energy on land and at sea, through the development of battery storage, through investing in an electricity grid fit for our current and future needs, and through the electrification of transport and heating, is to free ourselves from fossil fuels. This will be good for our energy security, good for our pockets and good for our economic future. It will also help us to dramatically lower Ireland's emissions of greenhouse gases.

This Government’s priority remains the delivery of a secure, affordable and sustainable energy system built around renewable energy. As an island nation, we possess some of the best wind resources in Europe, and that potential must remain at the centre of our energy policy. Over 40% of electricity generation is now from renewable sources. Ireland’s emissions have been falling for the last three years, and we now have lower overall emissions than at any point in the last 35 years, despite our population growing by 50% over that period. The latest EPA quarterly indicator report shows a continuation in that downward trend.

The Cabinet committee meets quarterly. It last met on 26 February and is scheduled to meet again later this month.

We know that Ireland will face around eight climate events every year that will have an impact on different parts of the country. The Taoiseach will recall that after Storm Chandra he was with me in Aughrim in County Wicklow. One of the requests made by the local authority, and it has been submitted, is for funding to repair many of the roads washed away as a result of that event. This is still a priority for Wexford County Council and Wicklow County Council. Can the Taoiseach give any indication, given the damage caused by Storm Chandra, of when funding to repair the roads that were damaged will be made available to those local authorities?

There is growing concern about the proposed approach to the new renewable energy targets to be set by the Office of the Planning Regulator, which, in turn, has passed this job to the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly, EMRA. These concerns extend to the possibility that the counties that have done the most could, effectively, be reset to zero, regardless of the progress already made. Offaly County Council was brave in 2009 to create a renewable energy policy in its development plan. Groups that have met with EMRA have raised concerns with me that existing renewable energy production may not be properly recognised. In the interests of fairness, counties like Offaly, which despite its small size, is already one of the leading producers of renewable energy in Ireland, should have their contributions to date fully taken into account. We will take more developments, but we cannot be treated in the same way as counties that have done very little or nothing up to this point. I am asking for the Taoiseach’s support with this.

Ireland now has the highest household electricity prices in the EU. They are approximately 40% above the EU average. Households in Ireland are now paying roughly €480 more per year in light of this. When will the updated national energy modelling be considered by the Government, and will nuclear be considered as a part of it? We need to look at all options here to reduce energy prices for families the length and breadth of this country.

The fossil-fuel crisis is a time when we need to have a catalyst to move more towards renewables. I am regularly contacted by households that would really love to move to renewables and deeply retrofit their homes, but, unfortunately, they just cannot afford to do so. Even though they are able to apply for grants and all those things, which are very welcome, there is a shortfall in the grants by comparison with what is needed. For terraced houses moving from E1 to H2, somebody would still need to find €37,000. It is €39,000 for a semi-detached house and €45,000 for a detached house. It is a huge amount of money. What can households do? The cost of living is so expensive, but it can be reduced if we go to renewables. It is like a cycle that people are stuck in. They do not have the money upfront to change and, therefore, their bills are going to be higher. As previous contributors said, our electricity prices are the highest in Europe. I thank the Taoiseach.

Is ait an rud é seo dom mar gurb é seo an príomhrud toisc gur innealtóir mé. We have made huge progress in renewable energy generation, but there is growing concern that parts of our grid infrastructure and regulatory frameworks are struggling to keep up with that pace. Since August 2025, renewable generators have been reportedly dispatched down and curtailed, with some operators saying they are receiving no compensation despite supplying clean energy. At the same time, there are delays in implementing grid code reforms by EirGrid, and this is creating uncertainty for Irish-owned renewable developers. Will the Government work with EirGrid and industry regulators to accelerate the required grid upgrades and code changes, ensure fair treatment for renewable generators and provide confidence to foreign companies and the Irish market so we can continue expanding renewable generation while maintaining grid stability, along with enacting the private wires Bill and facilitating plug-in solar?

The liberalisation of the energy markets across Europe was supposed to benefit consumers. The removal of the ESB’s not-for-profit mandate and the introduction of competition into the market actually resulted across Europe in a 40% increase in energy costs. In Ireland, however, the increase was 267%. What we actually got was competition that led to rampant profiteering by private energy companies. Prices for the consumer did not go down, but up. Is there a recognition that actually having the energy sector driven by profiteering companies has failed and that we need to bring the energy sector back into proper public ownership and run on a not-for-profit basis?

One of the most important climate measures that could be taken in my constituency of Cork East is the restoration of the Youghal train link. The Taoiseach is well aware of the rail advances under way in the region. We look forward to new stations between Midleton and the city, and ten-minute frequencies of service. Youghal and its hinterland, though, are being entirely left out of that revolution in public transport. This is about carbon emissions, but also about fairness in regional development and Youghal’s potential for prosperity. Residents of Youghal face gruelling commutes to work, college or special schools outside the region. At the same time, the residential and economic development taking off in Midleton and Carrigtwohill is not happening in Youghal at the same pace or on the same scale. This has consequences for housing, jobs, tourism, town centre renewal and the ability of people to live and work locally. Upgrading the N25 is important, but we need a decisive modal shift to rail and light rail in the city to address gridlock, reduce emissions and give Youghal a fair chance to grow sustainably. Will the Taoiseach commit to having more ambition for Youghal in respect of public transport?

County Meath is the fastest-growing county in the country and Navan is the largest town in the country without a rail line. Some 90,000 people are commuting from Meath daily and 60,000 of those are commuting by car because of the lack of a public transport option. It is taking between three and four hours to get back and forth to work every day. People are living in commuter hell. It is costing them in terms of family time and in their pocket, and it is also impacting the environment. The rail line was first proposed by Fianna Fáil in 1994. Its earliest delivery date is 2036. People who started working when it was announced will be on the pension by the time it is completed. It is glacially slow. The proposed railway order for that rail line has been delayed from 2026 to 2027 and now to 2028. Why can we not get planning right in this country? The Meath on Track campaign has done a terrific job in pushing this project forward and there will be a public consultation tomorrow in relation to the routes, and it will be announced.

I thank the Deputy.

Given that this has been disastrously slow, will the Government now designate the Navan-Dublin railway line as a critical infrastructure project under the critical infrastructure Bill?

Many of the Taoiseach’s Government’s policies seem to be ignoring the fact that we are failing to meet our climate targets. We see ever-increasing fossil fuel use due to there being more data centres, more cars on our roads and more planes in our skies. We need to see the Government’s plan for how it is going to square this circle. If it is the Government's proposition that we can, basically, keep doing what we are doing and still cut our emissions as we are obliged to do, then let us see the homework. We keep asking for a climate action plan for this year. We are being told it is on the way. When will it be delivered?

Go raibh maith agat.

I welcome the women from Mayo to the Public Gallery.

As we have been going door to door and speaking directly with families ahead of the by elections this Friday, the one issue that is raised more than any other is the unaffordability of energy and electricity. People are afraid to turn on their heating. Others are rationing, cutting back on essentials and living in constant anxiety about the next bill arriving through the door. Does the Taoiseach accept that this situation is unsustainable for working families, pensioners, carers and vulnerable people? Will he introduce energy credits to reduce energy costs and provide meaningful relief? We tabled legislation last week to show how we could permanently reduce energy prices. Something has to be done. People just cannot afford it. One woman answered the door to me yesterday. She had layers of clothing on her and said that she cannot turn the heat on. It was pouring rain and it was freezing outside. We have to do something to help people here and now.

I thank everybody for raising a range of issues. Deputy Malcolm Byrne was first off in raising Storm Chandra. He made the very good point that there are about eight storm events a year now and that speaks to the need for greater adaptation in our broader policies across the board. We need to adapt and invest in adaptation so that we are ready for these storms. Each storm is different. Storm Éowyn was different from Storm Chandra and had different impacts. I have spoken to the Minister with responsibility for roads and also to the Minister for public expenditure in relation to that. Submissions have been made across the country in respect of Storm Chandra and the needs there. I will come back to the Deputy in respect of that because it has to happen. More broadly, when I visited the Deputy, we saw a different manifestation of the storm. The flooding during that particular storm was a different event from what I witnessed in Carlow and in different parts of the country that I visited.

I would be strongly supportive of what Deputy McCormack said. Offaly has been very progressive in terms of renewables in general. As I have said to him previously, Offaly is on the cusp of something significant. Given the work of Bord na Móna, the battery storage developments that we have witnessed in Shannonbridge recently, investment in renewable farms and other investors coming on stream, renewable energy will attract other investments. Offaly has to get acknowledgement for what it has achieved already. It does not make any sense if there is not recognition. What has happened so far needs to be measured in terms of what one plans for the next instalment or degree of provision.

As I said earlier in response to another question, we need to have an honest conversation in the House about energy. People have looked for supports, quite rightly, and we have allocated about €750 million to alleviate the pressures on families, but the most effective pathway is to have more renewables. That will reduce the costs but we need to communicate that better to the public. More wind and more solar means cheaper energy costs in the long term and then we will not have to be putting together €750 million packages or providing energy credits for ever more. There is an over-reliance on the gas side and all of that is imported. If one looks at all of the graphs, we are still not at the right level. Around 40% of our energy is from renewables, or rather, around 40% of our electricity generation is from renewables. There has been an onshore wind revolution over the last 30 years. It has caused pressures and challenges, of that there is no doubt, but, equally, fossil fuel is damaging as well.

Wind has not brought down the price of electricity.

No, because there are other factors. The war in Ukraine was a huge factor. The problem with fossil fuels is that it they are coming from areas where there is conflict. We had a huge problem with Russia invading Ukraine. There was a huge energy crisis because Europe decided, correctly, to eliminate its dependency on Russian oil and gas. There is a war in the Middle East now, with a 20% reduction in world supplies. That has pushed up the price and caused huge problems for us. We need reinvestment in the grid. We have supported and given equity to EirGrid and we are now at the stage where up to €13 billion will be spent over the next five to six years on the grid itself.

Deputy Ó Cearúil raised the issue of nuclear power. I have dealt with that previously. I have no issue with examining nuclear power. It needs to be examined as an option into the future. At the moment, it is gas and renewables and there is a vulnerability on gas importation if anything was to happen to the gas connectors. We know the ships of a third country actor, Russia, have passed over the gas connectors and we have had to go down and check, as have the British. That is a huge vulnerability. That is why we are doing the strategic LNG energy reserve that we are providing in the mid-west.

Deputy Ó Murchú raised the same issue with roads that Deputy Malcolm Byrne raised. Again, that is under consideration between the Departments and we will come back to that.

Deputy Cummins raised fossil fuels and I have said what she said herself, namely, that it has to be a catalyst to more renewables. When I say we need a political debate, the point is that people object to solar, wind energy and gas generation stations. I keep asking myself how we will turn the lights on if we object to all of it. We need to work out, as a country, where we are heading. In terms of AI and data centres, they are a part of the modern digital world. There is no point in saying otherwise.

We have more than our fair share.

We have our fair share of them - I will acknowledge that - but they are important catalysts for investment too. The point is, though, that they will use up a lot of energy so we really need the offshore wind to happen. That has faced challenges because of what has happened in the United States and the undermining of the companies in the US in the wind space. We have quite a number of offshore wind projects in planning at the moment. We need to get those over the line by 2030 onwards and get a number of offshore wind farms up and running. That is key to the future energy sustainability of the country. There are about 2.5 GW of onshore wind in planning at the moment, with An Coimisiún Pleanála. That gives an illustration of where we are in terms of the energy debate.

We had a debate earlier about TAMS. Farmers are very positive about the utilisation of solar on rooftops, farm sheds and so on. That is an area we can unlock and do more on.

Deputy Cummins also made a point about retrofitting. We have been working on that. About €500 million is being spent on retrofitting now but there is validity in the Deputy's point insofar as it is still a significant up-front cost for people to do deep retrofitting, notwithstanding the significant grants that are now available. However, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, changed the grant scheme last February for windows and doors and a whole range of other items. He brought down the thresholds and has made it easier. The result has been a quite dramatic upsurge in applications, in terms of the numbers of people now applying for different types of retrofitting and for windows and doors as well, so that is working.

Is innealtóir den scoth é Barry Heneghan gan amhras. Admhaím go bhfuil suim faoi leith aige i gcúrsaí fuinnimh. Tagann sé isteach anseo go minic le moltaí agus tá an Rialtas ag éisteacht leis, particularly in the context of the legislation pertaining to private wires. I discussed plug-in solar with the Minister, arising from the Deputy raising it the last day. There are issues with the capacity of houses to absorb plug-in solar.

Not with apartments-----

There is a review under way and work is being done by EirGrid, the Department and the ESB to work that out and understand the challenges. It is being actively pursued. As I said earlier, up to €13 billion will now be invested in the grid itself. We have given the equity to EirGrid for grid upgrades. We met with EirGrid and ESB Networks yesterday at a Cabinet subcommittee meeting, with a view to those companies presenting to us the full map of Ireland with all the various upgrades and projects. We are talking about a couple of hundred projects here and that will need political support. What will happen is that in different localities, some Deputies will come under pressure because people will say they do not want kV lines but at some stage we have to get real as a country. We cannot have each-way bets every time. These are debates that we need to have sensibly. We need to engage with communities and put the facts on the table in terms of the implications if we do not go ahead.

It will mean less economic growth, fewer houses and less development of rural land if we do not get the upgrades to the grid over the line.

Deputy Quaide is probably too young to ever have been on the Youghal train but I had great experiences on it as a child. We all, multiple families, went on it from Turners Cross to Youghal. It was a fantastic service at the time. There is a fantastic greenway there now but I hear what the Deputy is saying. There is huge investment in the commuter rail project in Cork. It is fantastic. All the stations are being built and that development is, and will be, phenomenal. The Midleton rail line was the first part of that and it was Fianna Fáil that put it back into use. The late Séamus Brennan made the point that it was the first railway sanctioned in approximately 50 years. He did that, we have progressed it and the Kent Station reforms have happened. However, I hear Deputy Quaide loud and clear in respect of Youghal. CIÉ is constantly reviewing the situation but it has to get done what it has planned to do in the next number of years.

The upgrade of the N25 is vital and Deputy O'Connor has done a lot of good work on that. It must be acknowledged that it has to happen.

Deputy Tóibín spoke about Navan. I think he is being a bit unfair to Deputy Dempsey, Shane Cassells, the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, and others who have done a lot of work in terms of where we are now. We have a national development plan that has the resources that are needed. The Critical Infrastructure Bill will be coming through the House. I hope Deputy Tóibín will support it to ensure we are able to get projects through more quickly.

Will the Taoiseach designate the Navan line as another critical infrastructure project?

In response to Deputy Ahern, I think people still need aeroplanes. The issue is fuel efficiency and the type of fuels used, but people want to fly around the world. That is the reality. However, I take the Deputy's overall point. It is about balance. Our population has increased by 52% since 1995 and we have had record economic growth over that period, yet emissions are going down. Ireland is a very good example of an island that basically has decoupled economic growth from environmental degradation and rising emissions. In other words, we have achieved economic growth while also reducing emissions. We need to reduce them more but I think the direction of travel is very positive.

The Taoiseach did not respond to my question about privatisation.

I did respond. I do not think it is a privatisation issue alone. I get frustrated with the regulatory frameworks at times but the more important issue is that being overly dependent on imported fossil fuels is driving up prices in Ireland and across Europe.

The Minister is looking afresh at the climate action plan in terms of having a more objective-based approach. Instead of an annual 40, 50 or 100 actions, we will be asking what are the big-ticket items that can deliver emissions reduction in this country. His approach is a better one and it will be published soon.

I have dealt with the affordability issue raised by Deputy Conway-Walsh.