Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is depressing to listen to this and to draw the comparison between Denmark and Ireland and the opportunity that was lost. Professor Mathiesen referred to planning going back to the 1980s and in the period since we deregulated our energy system in this country and disempowered local government. At best we had a tokenistic approach to district heating that is not even district heating, is costing people a fortune and is damaging the concept of district heating. That is just a point of frustration that I am sure some of the witnesses share.

It is clear that there is spectacular opportunity in this, as shown by other countries. I want to pick up on some of the questions that were put earlier and an issue I have raised in the past. I am a Deputy for Meath East, I have been a member of the local authority in County Meath and I was on the climate action committee there and have stayed in good contact with it. We have lots of industry in Meath, including waste energy industry, that has the potential to play a role in real district heating systems. There is a gap in understanding the mindset in some of the pieces that have been touched on here in terms of distance. On the low-hanging fruit, maybe the witnesses could speak about the opportunity in Poolbeg and what might happen there immediately. What are the immediate priorities to enable this type of development in Ireland in the time ahead?

I will flag some of the challenges in the resourcing and capacity of our local authorities, as they are not in this space at the minute. They are under-resourced in many areas and have additional responsibilities heaped on them on a daily or monthly basis. Is there capacity to deliver on that? There is a need for co-ordination between different agencies, Departments and the private sector to deliver on this.

I presume that the drive for this must come from the Government in the form of legislation and regulation, that local authorities must be empowered to deliver on this, and that it has to come with a step change with regard to planning, building, and delivery. We can see lots of challenges even with ESB connections and Uisce Éireann connections. This is potentially another strand of that. This is the kind of step change that is needed and the elements that might be involved.