Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Forgive me for being late. Wednesday is a day when one has to attend other committees as well. I welcome the submission, which I have read. I merely want to ask some key questions. On the theme of building capacity in relation to the LCDCs and the PPNs, communities are coming together and generating ideas about what they want to do and there is an articulation of those ideas or projects through the local authorities. I want to glean a better understanding from the Department of how it is facilitating or helping to build capacity so that we can see a greater throughput of these localised projects with a climate change theme. One specific project with which I am familiar is the IRD Duhallow project on warmer homes. I am not sure whether Mr. McCarthy is familiar with that project. It is an extremely good project whereby those who are dependent on the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection payment can be facilitated with a grant and the project will come out and retrofit houses for attic insulation. That is one bespoke and valuable project for the community I represent. I wonder how the Department can translate that across a wider geographical spectrum and how one builds capacity on that kind of project and other types of projects. The LCDCs and the PPNs have considerable potential to build capacity and deliver projects for everybody, and have a real impact. I want to get an understanding from the Department of that dynamic. That is my first question.