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

I agree with the Senator that those who question why we should do this when other countries, some of them larger than Ireland, are not doing it miss the understanding that this new economy, in which Europe, the US and China are investing, is a better economy. Those who want to opt out and stick with the old system risk missing out in terms of the jobs and much more secure economic opportunities that come from this alternative economy.

With regard to how we position ourselves or help other countries, one of the things we should do is come with a little bit of humility. Listening is the first thing you do. Likewise, admitting that we do not know everything. Our emissions reduction record is not exactly stellar to date. We would not be bragging or pontificating to any other country. We need to bring to other countries practical measures that will help them to come to the solutions that will suit them. We are doing that within the negotiations process for COP in terms of the need for transparency around how countries are to meet their national determined contributions, NDCs, and account for their systems. Providing assistance by way of relatively small amounts of money to allow them to deliver that transparency would be a significant change. As mentioned earlier by Senator Higgins we do not want to completely conflate this with ODA, which it is not. We have skills in this area that would make us good at this. There are particular countries with which we have relationships through our ODA process on which we should focus and concentrate. We should use those relationships which we have built over time to show best case examples. To my mind, the focus should be on the food systems, such as that presented at the UN Food Systems Summit earlier this summer. It is about practical measures to protect and help small farming systems in some of the key aid countries we work with. This is the sort of practical work that we do well and we should continue to do it.

With regard to solar farms, it is a real challenge. Some of the farms were successful within the first renewable energy scheme, RES, agreed last year. I note from an article in today's newspapers that they are still having challenges in terms of grid connections. At a meeting I attended yesterday I heard about some of the obstacles we need to overcome to make sure we are not ticking every box and still having challenges because it is slow or difficult to get a grid connection, which is often the reason solar farms run into problems. The grid connection is key.

I was not aware of the details in terms of the capital acquisitions tax grant support and the reason it is set at 50%. I will have a look at that. My sense is the real challenge to connect renewables is on the distribution and transmission grid. That is sometimes not very glamorous or high profile, but increasingly when it comes to the development of renewables the grid connection is key.