Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I accept what Mr. Macken is saying about there being a broad brush. However, on the energy-efficiency issue and the amount of energy used in Northern Europe, never mind Ireland, which fares very badly by comparison with other countries, we need to catch up. Mr. Macken referred to a brown economy. Ours is purple; that is the fact of the matter. While some progress has been made through Sustainable Energy Ireland and while there have been some improvements in energy efficiency, there are very many households and buildings, including public buildings, that are anything but energy-efficient. Some of the county councils are trying to catch up but, unfortunately, we did not try to build energy-efficient homes during the building boom. A considerable number of buildings are totally inefficient and we must now try to retrofit them. As a State, we should do this. In the medium term we could save money, and the project could pay for itself. While we hold the Presidency of the European Union, we need to make a statement in this regard to other member states.