Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am concerned that we have now spent millions moving in the wrong direction. I am a politician on the Committee of Public Accounts and as much as it is my responsibility to show that up, it is the authority's responsibility as a sustainable energy group to make sure its input recognises it in all of these gatherings. That is what is wrong. We are not actually getting the message out there. Representatives of the sector are brought in, a box is ticked and then we move on. That has happened over the years, particularly in respect of that grant. The sector has proposed grants to the Department and I hope the SEAI will get sight of these proposals and take a look at them because, if the sector is proposing grants, it is prepared to roll them out. Over its lifetime, a Euro 6-compliant diesel-engine truck is as clean as a Euro 6-compliant gas-engine truck. There is absolutely no difference when it comes to the environment. There is a difference in the fuel that goes in and where it comes from but the reality is that, from a sustainability perspective, we need to move with what the sector can afford and Ireland is an exception in that we are an island nation. There must be regard to that.