Professor Brian Ó Gallachóir:

I will ask Ms Watson to respond on the community question.

The Senator is correct about the legacy of silos. I have seen it in Departments. In recent years I have seen Departments working together. However, I now see silos in the political system and that is why this committee is so important in trying to build consensus and coherence.

Headline efficiencies have improved. Efficiency is a tricky one. While it is the low-hanging fruit in terms of cost, it generally requires getting people to change practice which is where it gets tricky. It is a no-brainer on the cost side, but difficult to achieve in practice. It is important that we do that; otherwise we are wasting energy and money.

Regarding tax under duress, it is important to learn from what is happening in Paris and the experience here with water charges. We need to learn from such experiences in how we implement policies and how we engage. Dialogue is very important in that. It creates this challenge where we have both this urgency to act and the need to bring people in a full societal movement. That is a very difficult one to square.

On electric vehicles, EVs, being cost prohibitive, it is not just costs. We recently did analysis that I am happy to share with the committee. One of the issues was not having enough models available. When people thinking of getting a new car go to forecourts, they do not see an EV and are not even told about an EV. That is changing, but while cost is a factor, there are other ones. Do we have the grid capacity to accommodate charging? In many cases people would get a grant for a home charging kit. That raises challenges not just with electrification of transport, but also with heat pumps. The analysis can, and should, be done. I do not necessarily see a need for it to be gas turbines on the top of apartment blocks. We can mitigate that. It is important to consider the unintended consequences in all these.

The Senator asked about biomass and hemp production in the midlands. That brings together the climate justice element with the renewable energy solution. On the specifics of hemp, I believe witnesses from Teagasc will address the committee in the next session. The Senator is correct that biomass is not a silver bullet, but the difficulty is that we need everything. In defending biomass, it is not that I think that it is the best or that it will do it. However, it is not getting the discussion it needs. From our analysis it is hard to see it being achieved without biomass. Biomass incorporates biogas, liquid and solid waste, wood and so on.

The Senator asked about popular policies and how we make decisions. It is a tricky one. Members all know the political game better than I do. They are trying to navigate around having the correct evidence base so that it is a well-informed policy decision. Society needs to be behind it; ideally it should lead it. I ask Ms Watson to talk about that and the issue of planning and community involvement.