Dr. Brian Motherway:

Electrification of heating systems is an important opportunity for Ireland because heating is a difficult sector to tackle. It is not included in emissions trading. Ireland has made much more progress on the penetration of renewables into the electricity sector than it has in other sectors because our wind resource is very good. If heat loads can be electrified, that is good. Radiant heating, the new advanced storage heaters now on the market, and heat pumps all have a role to play and we will see further electrification of heating and transport systems, which fits with the fact that the best renewable resources we have been able to exploit to date are in the electricity sector.

My comments on word of mouth referred to retrofitting and involving communities and so on. I share the Deputy’s concern about the information deficit on the export project. Some of the more vocal actors have lost sight of what an early stage we are at and it is difficult to account for some of the misinformation when at this point we have a memorandum of understanding but are waiting for the intergovernmental agreement. After that comes the strategic environmental assessment and planning permission.

Wind turbines are not going up next week, despite what some people think. There is much to be done and there are many opportunities for public involvement and comment, formal consultation and environmental assessment. All of that has yet to happen. Therefore, if people come out with misinformation, we struggle sometimes to say it is not true because there is no counterpoint. If somebody says there is going to be a wind turbine in a particular place, I cannot say there will never be one there, but I can certainly say it is not yet decided. We are a long way from being at that point. The planning process for these projects has not even started. It is important that, in as much as we can, we maintain some maturity in that debate until we know more.