Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister's answers in the sense he is engaging with the issues we are raising, but while moves are being made towards more sustainable forms and uses of energy to reduce CO2 emissions, it always seems to be that only those least in a position to do so bear the cost of these transitions or suffering most as a result of the transition. I am a firm believer that if one wants people to move in an alternative direction one must put the alternative infrastructure in place and overcome whatever technical difficulties there may be to do this. The Minister stated there is nowhere to store logs in urban areas and this is a fair point, but there is no reason we could not have depots in estates or particular areas where people could buy small amounts of carbon-neutral environmentally friendly fuels, in particular wood, because it links into an area the Government also has a commitment to develop and expand, namely, forestry, which could generate employment. It seems a no-brainer that we would move more decisively in this direction and provide people with this alternative instead of always having to hit people and see what we can come up with afterwards.

I would say the same about insulation. As Deputy Doherty pointed out, there is a cost involved, and several times I have asked the Minister whether we could have a scheme, particularly for those who cannot afford it, whereby nothing would be paid upfront for the retrofit and insulation of a house but the cost would be added to energy bills afterwards. This would not be an extra cost because the householders will have made a saving in their energy costs. What they would be charged on an incremental basis would be the difference between what they used to pay and the saving, so there would be no extra burden. It would mean insulation could happen fast and people would not have to pay the money upfront. It would also generate a huge number of jobs for the many people trained in the insulation business. My local further education college teaches courses on BER energy ratings. People are being trained but there is nothing for them to do. We do not seem to be moving fast and decisively enough in this direction and those who cannot afford to be hit gets hit with the cost of it. This is unfair and, frankly, in the case of elderly people it is dangerous.