Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. I want to focus on the second strand of research the ESRI did, which concerned household behaviour, if I may. The institute's research was based on more than 160,000 homes in respect of which grant applications were made between 2009 and 2015. That was a huge group to look at. Do the witnesses have any further information? Do we know, for example, how many of the people who applied for these grants were in fuel poverty? I know cavity insulation is very popular because it is the least expensive, and I agree with a comment Dr. Curtis made at the end of his contribution: it comes down to cost. People coming into my constituency office see other people having their houses wrapped, for example. They might be older houses that are not suitable for cavity insulation. However, given they must pay the 65% not covered by the grant, I am surprised only 15% of people fall away. When people come to apply for it, they think it is cheaper than it actually is. Do the witnesses have a breakdown between, for example, cavity insulation, boiler, heating control and solar panels? Are there any percentages that show which was the most popular? If I were asked, I would say cavity insulation is by far the most popular because it is the most affordable.

We spoke this morning with Ms Justice Laffoy about consideration of climate change, people's mindset changes and societal acceptance. We saw an example of this last weekend, and I referred earlier this morning to Electric Picnic, where 10 kg of rubbish was produced by every person who attended. My daughter was there. The point I am making is that one must start in the home, and every little change makes a difference. The grants that are available have been very positive and are very worthwhile. I would even like to see them extended.