Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and Ministers of State. I have a question for the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, on the marine protected areas. There was a presentation in the AV room last week on the potential of carbon in fish. I think it is 16% of the carbon cycle. Will the Bill for marine protected areas the Oireachtas committee report recommendation, which is for 10% strictly protected areas, because we know it is essential to protect the fish in terms of their carbon storage? Can the Minister of State give us any indication whether the 10% strictly protected areas will make it into the marine protected areas Bill?

People have been dealing with the high-level aspects of how we reduce our emissions in the built environment through retrofitting and embodied carbon. My focus would be on what is seen as the low-hanging fruit. I am raging the Minister has had to leave, because I have been trying to get this question answered for the last year and a half. It is about the rights of tenants and owner-occupiers in apartments to dry their clothes and to not have to rely on electric dryers. We signed up to an agreement at EU level to reduce our electricity demand by 10%. We did not achieve that reduction, but one of the key planks of the campaign to reduce that energy demand was a public awareness campaign telling people to reduce their electricity use. One of the ads asked whether now was a good time to dry clothes or dry them outside. What we were effectively doing there is gaslighting everybody who lives in apartment blocks, because they are not allowed dry their clothes outside and must use dryers. The question I am trying to get the Minister to answer is would he look to amend the Residential Tenancies Act to allow tenants and owner-occupiers have the right to dry their clothes outside, rather than in an electrical dryer. We are talking about compact urban growth and people living more in apartments, so the planning guidelines must allow for spaces and facilities that allow people to dry their clothes outdoors.