Mr. Robert Watt:

I thank the Deputy for his valid questions. Most of the issues on SEAI schemes are for the Department and the authority. Our remit does not extend to publicising the benefit of schemes. That is for the different agencies.

On the question of funds, the Minister and the Government decided than it would be very useful, rather than allocating money to the Departments, to allocate instead to a fund and encourage different players inside and outside the system to come up with ideas.

There is a fund on sub-technology, which could be climate-related or outside the climate field. There is a direct fund for climate initiatives. We have received lots of submissions and those ideas are being looked through, evaluated and assessed. The Government will make announcements on those in the coming period. We will see how we get on with these funds. It is an area we are interested in because it creates that competitive tension and it encourages innovation across the system. What they will fund at this stage, we do not know, but we will make an announcement shortly.

On renewables, I could be mistaken - Mr. Cleary might be able to confirm this - but they now make up 40% of peak demand for electricity depending on which time of the day or year it is. That is fairly significant. When the former Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, was there it was only 15% or 20%. That is not too long ago.