Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. The targeting of lower-income homes is primarily through the warmer homes scheme, but there is also a significant contribution by and important role for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I cannot remember the exact figures from the other Vote but I am being reliably informed that €65 million is the amount. That is critical because it helps us in a variety of ways. First, we have greater control over it. It is not easy work to do but it allows us to scale up and build industry capability. It is, by definition, in social housing, giving us that benefit. We are also looking at new approaches to the community scheme, which will allow an aggregated approach and area-based approvals. Many community schemes can also be targeted at lower-income communities. Critical in this regard is the role of SEAI with its additional resources to manage that. The political commitment is clear. This is a vehicle to end fuel poverty. We will get to every house. It will take two decades or three decades to do so but at the end of that process, we will have an energy system and housing system that eradicates fuel poverty through this year-in, year-out consistent retrofitting of the housing stock. Doing low-income social housing first is the right strategic approach and that is what that budget allocation of approximately €170 million last year is very much steered towards.

On the solar PV targets, I am not aware of hold-ups in the system such as those the Deputy mentioned. If he sends me details in that regard, I will look into it. There should not be a difficulty in terms of projects looking for second stage payments from 2020. We have done the public consultation on the roll-out of the microgeneration support scheme. I understand from the Department that it is still on track for delivery in June or July at the latest. That is when it is expected. I do not see any reason why it would not be very quickly in operation.

As regards the RESS scheme, I do not go into the details of every project in an auction system as one must keep a certain distance, but my understanding from the officials is that we are on track. The auction system got people to bid in very tightly as, particularly on the solar side, many of the projects were probably on the edge of being able to finance it. However, such are the changes that are occurring in the solar industry that prices keep coming down. I think that helped as well. My understanding is that the vast majority of the projects that got through the auction process will be delivered. That will be the first really significant volume of solar power coming on stream in Ireland. We will move to a second auction, probably early next year. I expect solar to form a significant component of that auction. I am very keen to get as much community-orientated solar and wind power as possible within those projects. The industry is starting to ramp up and, after a long period of false promise, I am confident we will see solar numbers starting to rise.

With regard to the North-South interconnector, we have discussed this in the past. For me, this is probably one of the most critical projects for the whole island. Without it, we lose North-South connectivity and, to my mind, that threatens the whole co-operation on energy that has helped to transform both sides of this island and all parts of the island. We have met renewables targets, North and South. We have everything to gain from further collaboration and co-operation in terms of the single electricity market. However, we need connectivity. The North-South interconnector is the right and critical project.

I was going to say I had a North-South Ministerial Council meeting the other day but I did not. I was in discussions with some Northern colleagues and I had a meeting with Eirgrid as well this week. I was informed there is an ongoing judicial review case up there which is due to be concluded, I understand, early this summer. We need our review process, to which I have committed with my Government colleagues, to be done within that timeframe. The final draft terms are not concluded yet, but they will be very shortly, within the coming days. Very quickly, we will commission someone to complete that review, which is focusing on the range of independent international studies that we have done on this issue, and to look again at all of the analysis presented to get confirmation that the analysis and thinking behind it are still absolutely appropriate and correct. I am very keen that we do that in a proper and quick manner, and that, subject to the judicial proceedings being completed in the North, we have that review in a similar timeframe. That will allow the Government to make final decisions on the project and allow Eirgrid to proceed.