Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Mulvey and congratulate him on his new role. It is not the first time I have met him as he was in Offaly for a very engaging afternoon. It was a great opportunity for him to see at first hand what is going on there with the regional transition team led by Offaly County Council. I very much welcome the fact his office is going to be based there and it is great he is getting the support from Ms Sarah Morgan and all of the team there.

In thinking about the just transition, the important thing is looking at how the midlands is going to transition from being a centre for energy generation using fossil fuels to being a centre for energy generation using renewable energies. I would be interested in us thinking a little about the brown to green strategy that Bord na Móna has for its wind farm projects, a couple of which are already up and running. There is also a lot of interest in the development of solar farms and some local businesses are very proactive in terms of energy storage, battery storage and all of that. Again, there are local people with plenty of ideas so there is opportunity.

One thing we can welcome is the fact Bord na Móna has decided to diversify rather than just shut up shop, which it could easily do because its main function was to harvest peat for energy generation. When its main client, the ESB, is gone, the question is what it is going to do, so I welcome very much the fact it is looking at new business. I would, of course, support Senator Higgins in regard to the need for good, well paying jobs, which is what we want.

Will Mr. Mulvey be engaging with the START secretariat? As he knows, the European Commission has the platform for coal regions in transition and the Minister, Deputy Bruton, asked that we be considered as part of that. We have been accepted and the START team came to the midlands to meet all of the local authorities and other stakeholders at the beginning of this month. Will Mr. Mulvey meet with START representatives and liaise with them because it would be crucial to do so?