Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The framework outlined is top class and hits all the right issues in terms of the involvement of communities, local authorities and so on. The key question concerns implementation. What, when, where? This is where I get a bit worried. So far, the local authorities have failed to roll out any electric vehicle, EV, chargers. Not a single one has been rolled out. For three years, they have had grants of €5,000 per charger. If they are missing the low-hanging fruit, how good are their plans and the execution?

SECs are great and motivate many people.

But I would like to see what they are leveraging in actual delivery beyond informing people and getting them to an understanding. Does the SEAI have tools to ensure that each delivers a certain amount or sets the ambition to deliver a certain energy saving and that they are not waiting for the various obligated entities to come on with those grants?

Last week, a witness told the committee that technology is shifting fast and that we should focus on the shallow first, that is, the early wins. A company submitted to me that for €350 it can install a heat controller that will save 25% of fuel use in homes but it is not being rolled out on the scale that we ought to see. The witness last week said that we should exploit the lower-hanging fruit. Take smart meters. There are 750,000 installed but they are not being activated to switch people to consume at night. My question for the SEAI and the Department is how we get from the good planning frameworks to delivering the low-hanging fruit and then the deeper change? How is that accountability driven? If local authorities do plans and do nothing about them where does the buck stop?