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

My next question is that when the Minister of State is talking to the Minister, he might note that in England and Wales, they are installing solar panels on 800,000 social housing units, which is about 17% and just less than 20% of the social housing there. With the new regulations being brought forward by the Minister of State, it would make a very significant difference to us if we were to do something similar to that here with our social housing stock. This difference would in the first instance be for those who live in social housing and the positive benefits this would have for them. Also, this would assist in trying to hit our carbon targets. It is very much the way we need to go. I know that this issue is not in the Minister of State’s remit here today but I believe it is important. The Minister of State is bringing forward positive recommendations here and I assume that the other Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, would be in full support of that idea where he needs to match that with work on social housing. I ask that the Minister of State takes this idea to the Minister.

My final point is that we support this. It is positive and has taken a long time to come but we will move forward now.