Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is positive. It is very much relevant to larger companies. To be fair, when one thinks of a SME or smaller company, one thinks about a corner shop at home. Such small businesses are intrinsically linked with good corporate social responsibility through, say, Tidy Towns, or sponsoring the local school. They are the go-to-people for the wider community all year round.

Recently, I met a group of businesses in IBEC from the midlands region which I represent. Many of them stated they were aspiring to embrace new energy efficiency measures and needed to approach the issue positively, efficiently and in a timely fashion.

Two years ago, the Government established a fund to help and incentivise people to make the transition. When I tabled a parliamentary question last week, I realised in the first tranche only 2% of the overall fund was given to private industry while 98% was given to local authorities and semi-State or public bodies. Do the witnesses have a role in identifying businesses that are embracing what they need to embrace, trying to do what is right and asking what the Government is doing to incentivise and encourage them? I was amazed that such a small percentage of the fund was allocated to private industry. Does the forum have a role in stating that the allocation of funding is wrong and that they should be allocated more widely?