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

I have seen it and I have faith that the Department can do the same.

Mr. Watt is right that the responsibility lies with politicians, so we have a responsibility. Interestingly, he cited the former Ministers of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputies Howlin and Noonan, and the current Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, as examples. Everyone who has been in government knows that the power lies with the Minister for Finance and whether one is a Minister with responsibility for energy, agriculture or transport, one must overcome that obstacle. It has been an obstacle in getting to decarbonisation. There was always a sense that the officials in the Department of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform did not understand that decarbonisation is an economic opportunity for this country, that we can and will be good at it, that this is where the new economy is going and that retrofitting is not a burden or high risk. That attitude must change. We must give power to line Ministers, local authorities and mayors in order that everyone in this country has the opportunity to experiment and show off how we can make this shift. That is one of the changes that has to happen.