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

I would love Bord na Móna to boom. Why is it that Mr. Donnellan mentioned nothing about retrofit in his presentation? Mr. Andrew McDowell, the head of the European Investment Bank, EIB, was in Dublin last week and he said that he estimates there is a €50 billion business in this area in Ireland and the main problem is he has no counterparties who are looking to lend in that area. Professor John FitzGerald told this committee we would have to spend €5 billion on social housing alone. Irish Rural Link said at the national economic dialogue that it cannot get workers. Paul Kenny of Tipperary Energy says this business is dead in the water because there are no workers available for it. Given Bord na Móna's superb logistics abilities, mechanical and other engineering capability, why would it not switch the company, and its ability to borrow and lend, and do this on a big scale? We have to be doing 45,000 houses a year within two years, at an average cost of €30,000 or €40,000 per house. We should go to every house in the midlands and retrofit, with Bord na Móna leading the way. How come it has not considered the retrofit energy business? I know it considered it ten years ago. Why has it given up on that side of the business?