John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Things have changed. Ms MacEvilly referred to the customer, but she is wrong in this regard. Someone who rents a house, not from a local authority, approached me recently and asked whether rules could be brought in to obligate landlords to introduce the best energy technology in their home. He said he is very much in favour of doing what he can to reduce his carbon footprint but his landlord controls the heating system in the house. The man said he pays the bill but he does not control the energy that creates the heat in his house. This is a matter we can consider. If a local authority controls and essentially owns 10,000 homes, as in the case of south Dublin, while the customer has a right to decide the supplier, the State owns the house. There are 10,000 homes which Ms MacEvilly said could purchase exclusively green energy. Who will argue with that? It may make only a small impact but it will be a significant impact if it becomes a policy issue. The customers may be in charge of the supplier but they are not in charge of the energy. The constituent I spoke with would love to have a heat pump but there is a gas boiler and he has no control over it because he does not own the house, which is owned by the landlord. We might have to investigate this matter.