Professor Brian Ó Gallachóir:

I will hand over to Ms Watson in a moment. My own thoughts are that the Senator is exactly right regarding energy poverty and addressing that through community energy schemes. That is a very positive way to go. It is not just the money, it is also the aspect of people coming into each other's homes. In a community setting people are known to each other. That is an important dimension because there are many barriers to making community energy schemes work. The question of the rail network came up earlier as well. I apologise for not addressing it and I thank Senator Devine for reminding me of it.

We have not looked at this closely. The dispersion of the population of Ireland around the country makes this a difficult area. What we have noticed is a decline in the use of rail for freight transport. The ports are used to a slightly greater extent for freight transport but the roads are much used. There has been some analysis of electrifying rail and where that might make most sense regarding investment versus return in emissions reductions. My understanding is that it is more in the greater Dublin area than some of the intercity lines. I will try to find the information and send it to the Senator.