Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate Mr. Byrne on his appointment. I am conscious of time so I will get straight into my questions. Mr. Byrne mentioned he worked with African communities through Vita. I would be interested in hearing an outline of the plans of the Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland around resourcing and training the community energy sector. For example, the Scottish model provides an enablement grant of £25,000 to help communities carry out feasibility studies and to get them up and running. Mr. Byrne can correct me if I am wrong, but I understand that the SEAI has yet to fill the role of community-led energy adviser.

The current situation, where communities who are keen to be part of the energy transition and to get involved, whether they are small businesses, farms or schools, is that they are having to do deal with the CRU and the ESB directly, and they are organisations that are not used to dealing with communities and that do not have the communal capacity to do that. If we really want communities to be a bigger part of the process, we have to support them in that process. I would love to hear about the SEAI's role in terms of the RES process and bringing communities along on the energy transition.