Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Regarding that figure of 40%, and without being too political, carbon tax will increase on 1 May. Most of the people living at Mary Aikenhead Place, Noonan Road and the like are in properties that are 70, 80 or 90 years old, freezing and damp.

The carbon tax is to be imposed on these people on 1 May. We are looking at achieving 40% retrofitting of local authority housing so with Cork City Council, that would be 4,500 houses. What happens to the other 6,500 houses? Will the people in them have to pay the tax for years? Retrofitting is a very good initiative and we all agree on that. The issue is the timeline and it must be done more quickly.

I know much of the private work is contracted and even much of the local authority work is given to contractors. This needs to be brought back to local authorities with designated teams funded by central government to carry out this work and speed up the process. Is a 40% figure for 2030 realistic or is it good enough for what we are trying to accomplish when it comes to trying to reduce energy usage? We are trying to save the planet and one minute we have people telling us we are not doing enough but this plan is not ambitious enough for what we must achieve. Does Mr. Armstrong agree or disagree?