Ms Julie O'Neill:

I hope I remember all those questions as I go through them. I will start with one of Deputy Fleming's earlier questions on whether I believe the role of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland is unnecessarily restrictive. No, I do not. I believe generally when it comes to power or influence it is not so much what an organisation is given, it is how that organisation uses the opportunity it is given. I believe we have an interesting and exciting opportunity in the coming years, now that the issue of sustainable energy is firmly before people's minds, to build on the good work that has been done and to become even more effective in getting that message out to a wider audience throughout the country. As things stand the authority does excellent work with schools, school programmes and young people. Some weeks back, before I was invited back onto the board, I went to an event in Dublin Castle. It frankly blew my mind when I saw the kinds of ideas that young children in schools throughout the country were coming up with for energy efficiency, energy conservation and renewable energy proposals. There is a whole new generation to whom we need to reach out. We produce some excellent publications. Quite apart from our grant support work, which is very important and where the lion's share of our resources go, our publications are excellent. However, we need to broaden the reach through the media and in other ways to reach out to a wider audience. I do not believe we are overly constrained.

Deputy Fleming asked what will get in the way. There is no doubt that while we are half way to reaching our 2020 targets they are challenging targets to meet. People tend to get the easier stuff out of the way first and then it gets harder as time goes on. Let us consider energy efficiency. What tends to happen is that all the early adapters and all the people who move fast are on board early. Then we have to try to reach the harder-to-reach people, who are less convinced or who have other things on their minds. As against that, one thing that is helpful is that this is no longer simply the agenda of a small statutory authority; it is the agenda of every business, big and small, in Ireland as well as every business that is seeking to establish in Ireland, whether Google, Apple, any of the foreign direct investment companies, the major food companies like Danone, Kerry Group or others which have their origins in Ireland or whether it is a small start-up business. Everyone sees the opportunity that sustainable energy offers in terms of reducing their carbon footprint and cost base. Many see the opportunity for innovation and creating new job opportunities as well. We need to work with that opportunity.

Deputy Fleming mentioned public bodies. Numerous large public bodies, including those with the biggest energy burn in the education and other sectors, have made significant progress. There are others which have work to do. I could not agree more with Deputy Fleming. I have been astounded, even at a personal level, at how such things as switching off the lights, turning down the temperature by 1° Celsius in the house and various other measures can make a difference. Demand management, which is a major part of meeting our efficiency target, is a combination of the things we do to insulate and so on as well as changes in the behaviour of energy users. To the extent that we reduce energy demand we reduce the challenge of achieving the targets of a certain percentage of energy usage coming from renewable sources.

We have talked about it already but there is no doubt that the wind challenge will be a challenge in the time ahead. There is juggling to be done and a balancing act for the wider powers that be in government and the planning authorities to get right. This involves balancing the planning aspects, which are clearly important to those communities where wind farms are placed, and the contribution that energy can make to the grid.

Heat is another question as is the related issue of finding new sources. Transport, which is where I came from into this area, is still a significant untapped area. I was party to producing our first transport sustainable energy policy. Unfortunately, it was predicated on there being the ability to put in place a significant investment into public transport and so on. Obviously, the downturn in the economy made that far more difficult. As things stand, we are gradually moving towards 10% of our fuel coming from biofuels. Electric cars, which had a very slow start, are now beginning to take off as their range and battery life increase and as costs begin to come down. In recent years the shift in the mindset of individuals towards not only sustainable energy but the wider health benefits of walking and cycling has made a significant difference. There is a good deal that is positive and under way in that area.

Deputy Fleming asked about one or two specific aspects that I might raise with the Government.