Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My questions have changed somewhat as the day has progressed, so we will see how I get on.

When answering the first question, Mr. Griffin outlined the various State bodies with a role in addressing climate change. The gist of what he was saying is that there is not a need for an additional body. How do the existing bodies entice or mandate actions? Is their work made available to the public? How can that information be accessed? I am unsure about whether it is available, but perhaps it is. What powers do those bodies have and what can they do?

What is the Department specifically doing to ensure Ireland meets its 2020 or 2030 targets? We have heard much about what the EU is doing, has planned and is putting in place, but we have not heard anything concrete about what is happening in Ireland. What can the Department with responsibility for climate action do legislatively to make changes happen, for example, to make offshore wind energy generation possible? I do not want to know what the Department with responsibility for the environment or whatever is doing, I want to know what Mr. Griffin's Department can do.

Mr. Griffin stated, "The structure of Ireland's economy, involving dispersed population settlement, car-based commuting and the central role of agriculture in the rural economy, requires the Government to balance economic and societal objectives with the imperative to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions." Will he expand on that point and explain what he means? How will rural Ireland fit into the climate change agenda that he mentioned? There is no mention of rural Ireland in any of the outcomes.

My question for the ESB may have been answered. It stated that there is no barrier to the connection of a single house's renewable power to the grid. Later, however, it stated that there is by indicating that there is no tariff. What is the situation? I had another question for the ESB, but I cannot remember it.