Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

On the retrofitting budget, I understand there is an €8 billion State investment. It should have been done a long time ago but the truth of the matter is it is there now and, over the next ten, 20 and 30 years, every house, building and structure will have to be energy-retrofitted. We are scaling up to that at the moment and there is investment in it. Many jobs are being created in retrofitting. I know many people who are starting electrical apprenticeships in fitting solar panels and they have a future ahead of them of 30 or 40 years of good, clean, well-paid work.

On the Deputy’s reference to the hydrogen strategy, he is correct. We have not yet completed our hydrogen strategy, but work is ongoing on that. As I recall, his party’s Private Members' Bill relating to hydrogen took a simplistic view of just saying hydrogen is great and asking why nobody is doing something about it. In fact, we are doing something about it on the ground and, as he will or at least should know, the additional 2 GW of offshore renewable we discussed is intended to feed into hydrogen gas and we can have benefits from that as a country, either in the exporting of that hydrogen gas or the use of it in industry or transport. We have seen the investment in the Foynes railway line, which is going to be a key part of the Shannon Estuary and is probably going to be the centre of our hydrogen industry over the next decade. Hydrogen is developing and we are putting that infrastructure in place on the ground and investing in our ports, in Rosslare, Cork and at Shannon, in order that we will be ready for that renewable industry. We are taking action on the ground, and while it may not be noticeable to the Deputy, it is significant action that is going to deliver over the next ten and 20 years. That has always been our Green Party policy. It is not about immediate popularity and soundbites; we leave that to other parties. We plan for the future, and that is exactly what we are doing.