Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Fuel poverty affects 28% of households. There is an attempt to address that with insulation and other sustainable measures in housing. Most people cannot afford that and cannot match grants. Those supports are too difficult for people to access. That is, however, one of the ways we can get community involvement and get communities talking to one another. The need to insulate is inextricably linked with a realisation of the nature of climate change. Do the witnesses have ideas on how progress can be made on a community basis by talking to people and taking direct action at the same time?

Regarding the difficult area of heavy goods haulage, which is a significant emitter of CO2, have we examined the capacity of the rail network to take over some of that transport in a more environmentally-friendly way? On community ownership and the research that needs to be done on groups that have not survived, can the witnesses, off the top of their heads, give the main reason why those groups might have collapsed?