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

I thank the witnesses for the presentation. It was really interesting. I have a few questions. The opening statement mentions a hydrogen pathway and says that the electrification pathway is superior. Are these two choices that we face? Is it the case that Ireland Inc. has to take a punt on one or the other or is it the case that they are essentially complementary and it is a question of timing?

To move to my second question, if I was sitting in the Minister's position and assessing the witnesses' ask, I would ask whether this form of carbon abatement is very expensive in the short term when compared to other options Government might have. It seems we are different from Scandinavian countries in that we have not onboarded the same volume of renewable energy to our system. Is it a question of timing? Do the grant levels need to be upped now to get early movement in this area or is this a relatively more expensive type of abatement measure that will probably be appropriate in three, four or five years? I do not know. Allied to that, from a Government point of view, how is the question of the appropriate rate of subsidy for this activity to be answered? That is a question that has to be answered. It may be done by asking other consumers to pay under a levy system or by asking the Government to stump up the money itself. Can the witnesses shed light on those sorts of practical choices? If we were to recommend a higher level of subsidy to get this going more quickly, that is the question that would need to be answered.

I will refer to the CAP, by which I mean the climate action plan as opposed to the Common Agricultural Policy.

There are measures here but they seem to be more tentative than the witnesses are suggesting. The measures talk about a green transition fund. It is not a commitment to a particular rate of compensation. The measures talk about reviewing the support scheme for renewable heat but do not say what that ought to be. They talk about a task force to accelerate the update of the transformation of heat. Will the witnesses comment about how they regard the existing measures in the climate action plan as meeting their ambition or do the measures fall short of their ambition?