Mr. Declan Meally:

It is an excellent opportunity. Again, when one gets heat that is generated by the data centre and an opportunity to feed into the district heating system and local homes, it is a perfect symbiosis in terms of the two of them working together. Dublin City Council and South Dublin County Council have worked on district heating networks and Codema. They have looked at these opportunities and are developing energy master plans for those areas. These are ideal opportunities because there is a density of homes, businesses, etc., that can use the energy. That is the idea in terms of planning forward. We must ask ourselves can we have heat sources beside homes. In terms of the future, we are not doing so well on heating but there are opportunities for us in terms of the way to go.

On efficiencies, we are doing very well in terms of the fact that we have set our public targets and energy efficiency. We were the first country to set up an energy management standard. That became a European standard and it is now a world standard. I refer to the ISO 50001, which was developed by the SEAI in 2006. It has become a European standard. We are leading areas.

The CEO of the SEAI made a presentation at the International Energy Agency about our retrofit plans, which are seen as leading. Other countries want to understand how we do this. I mean how have we done 400,000 homes already. Ireland is doing quite well. We still have a good bit of catching up to do on the emissions side and reducing emissions but we have huge opportunities and have set leads in particular areas. I hope that I have given a flavour of where matters stand.

In terms of how can we sell this to the consumer, the Deputy said it herself when she referred to the fact that the people in Tallaght and Clondalkin say the scheme is fantastic. People sell the idea to each other. The SEAI sees the best way is peer to peer or selling the idea to each other through community groups. We have 600 sustainable energy communities who are teaching and lead the way. They have shown the lead to local authorities by taking action themselves and saying this is the way to go. It is about finding a way to say: "Listen, this is what we have done as a community group. Come and see my house. Look at the heat pump. There is no mystery. My house is so much warmer." A resident said to me that they no longer wear an overcoat in bed. It is the telling of those stories to the people and the neighbours and conveying that this way of life is a no-brainer and the way things should be. We also have national campaigns but conveying the message by word of mouth is the way to go. We can use our community networks and get the message out there. That is how we should go about it.