Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I argue that we should stop the use of peat in electricity production today. We are to wind down its use by 2030. We will not have any peat left by 2030. My understanding is that what is proposed involves using up what is left. We had a meeting at the national economic climate dialogue, at which it was stated that in meeting the national objectives that would save us energy - I refer to the deep retrofitting of buildings - one of the biggest constraints would be that we would not have workers in the midlands. Why do we not just switch the workers from peat production which is highly uneconomic, massively subsidised and very dirty? Why not reskill those brilliant skilled workers in the energy world to achieve retrofitting in order that we could make energy efficiency savings? To say we are getting out of the use of peat by 2030 as if it were a good news story is not appropriate. From a climate perspective and based on any independent energy analysis, it makes no sense. Why are we doing it?