Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. I am reading through their opening statement, and when they talk about the different SDGs, targets and key developments the Department has worked on, the key developments seem to be very much plan based. It is all about the draft clean air Act, the waste plan for a circular economy and the national smart metering programme. It is very much the policies the Department is responsible for. We have a lot of policies and plans, and it is connecting those with actions. That is really where we need to be going.

If we take the national smart metering programme as an example, the witnesses have put that down as one of the key developments. Of those smart meters, only 4% are actually operational and it has cost €1.2 billion to do that. I would see that as a policy failure, to be honest. I know other Departments and areas are responsible for the roll-out of this, but at what stage or how is that feedback loop coming in? A policy is put in place, it goes out in the ether, it does not work and it is clearly not working. At what stage is there an assessment of that policy, and that feeds back into the Department, where that policy is reviewed and the delivery of it is upgraded? Does it come back to the Central Statistics Office, CSO, and the indicators it produces? How long is that feedback loop? Does it take a number of years for that to happen? Can that be expedited? Obviously, we do not have years before that comes back and we can actually improve the situation.