Dr. Paul Deane:

I thank Deputy Troy for his questions. I do not have the figure for peat but I estimate it is likely to be in the low single digits. Electricity accounts for about 20% of the energy we use in Ireland. We often confuse energy and electricity. If we look around our homes, offices and the room we are in at the moment we see that electricity is commonly used to power appliances. However, outside our homes we see trucks, heating systems and large industry use oil and gas for heating and transport and these are the dominant vectors of energy. Electricity accounts for about 20% and I estimate peat probably accounted for single digits as a percentage of our overall electricity production.

As the Deputy was speaking I was reflecting on the remarkable transition that utilities such as Bord na Móna have delivered in the midlands in transitioning away from peat and bringing on new energy sources such as onshore wind, anaerobic digestion and planning for hydrogen and different combustion fuels. It is a cause of great hope as it demonstrates what can be done when people put their minds to it, there is a strong political focus, society has trust in those utilities and there is a strong social focus. We should look to the transition in the midlands to give us optimism. I acknowledge it has not always been easy. People have encountered many difficulties and much hardship but the transition by Bord na Móna in the midlands from a solely brown producer of electricity to trying to be one of the largest green producers of electricity and energy, is a good example for Ireland and the rest of Europe about what can be done when we put our minds to it.

I will also bring in the agricultural dimension. We have huge potential to grow energy, especially from anaerobic digestion as the Deputy mentioned. We are brilliant at this in Ireland. We grow silage. We have large quantities of slurry. When silage and slurry are put into a metal tank, a renewable gas is produced and that is what we need at the moment. What farming families and communities need are options to diversify away from elements of farming that are unprofitable. What is fundamentally important to realising anaerobic digestion is not the technology. Countries such as Germany and Austria have thousands of digesters.

It is not technology; it is a strong stable policy. If we are asking farming families and co-operatives to come on a journey with us to produce energy, the thing they would need most and crave most is a secure, stable and long-term policy. That would mean that if they are to make this investment from using their land to produce food to using their land to produce fuel in different ways, they would need some element of financial cover because it is a large investment but also something that is necessary. It is something that is not suitable for all elements of farming but it is something that should be explored and gives farming families options and allows us to be responsible for a lot more of our natural gas production in Ireland.

Coming back to the point I made in my opening statement, while we need to move away from fossil fuels in Ireland, they are not going to go away overnight. Moving away from fossil fuels is a two to three decade transition. We will need fossil fuels in 2020, 2030 and 2035 and producing those from indigenous sources in a responsible and sustainable way is something that is very important.

On the Deputy's final point about solar, we do not often think about Ireland as a very sunny place. With the recent advances in solar technology, particularly the reductions in cost, coupled with the increases in electricity and energy prices we are seeing at the moment means, solar makes a lot of environmental, social and economic sense in Ireland. We recently did a study for the Irish Solar Energy Association where we looked at the potential for residential solar production in Ireland. We counted the household roofs that could be used in a meaningful way to produce their own electricity and we found that about half of the homes in Ireland are very suitable for solar panels. For example, if a family in Dublin put six or seven solar panels on their roof, they would reduce their electricity bill by about €400 this year. They would get a payback on their investment of about seven to ten years but what is really nice about solar energy is that they reduce their energy bill this year by about €400 but they also reduce it for the next 24 years to 25 years because that is the period these panels last. When we think about the one-off financial measures we are giving to families at the moment, they are practical but giving families the opportunities and possibilities to produce their own electricity is something that will endure and, hopefully, outlast and outlive this energy crisis. Looking at supporting solar panels for residential development, for farmers and for business is a really good idea. We do that to a certain degree at the moment through generous grants from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. From a sourcer's perspective, having a closer look at 100% grant funding for families who are in receipt of a fuel allowance is something that would be very impactful and meaningful not only for those families who produce their own electricity for their homes but also for the wider benefits in terms of jobs and employment in Ireland.