Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. For the most part, when we discuss this issue, we do so from the point of view of energy security or carbon emission reductions. If we drill down and think about what is relevant to most people, other than, as the Minister said, what happened in Ukraine recently, people ask what happens if the gas is switched off. It probably promotes more depth of thought about how it affects the individual or his or her business. The major challenge for us in terms of how we plan and what we plan for is how to reduce energy costs for the individual in order to bring people out of fuel poverty, which is increasing, and how to reduce energy costs for business so as to make Ireland a more competitive place in which to locate one's business and to invest. The blueprint that we have to follow, with all the other considerations and targets, must set this out clearly. That is where the discourse begins with the public rather than consultation on individual projects. I am aware that Grid25 is not an individual project, but that is what happens. We start consulting when we are on the ground, and that is not a comment on the merits or demerits of the actual consultation that takes place. In many cases, people will say they were doing their best in regard to consultation. There are broader brush strokes that have to be established and accepted and the public has to be brought along from the point of view of the democratic process; otherwise, we are in an uphill struggle to get buy-in. The issue of greatest concern to people is energy costs.

I am wondering what-----