Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Skillnet has not received any funding for climate related activities from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. I think enterprise received funding from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications before it was given to Skillnet. There seems to be some overlap. Have the various organisations met to figure out how not to waste resources, including time and energy? If we want to streamline it to get businesses to engage, we will have to do something like this to make it more accessible. Is that on the cards? What will be done?

I also see that there is a lot of good training in certain areas, but it is centralised. Some ETBs are doing great training. I was at the Skillnet for climate launch in the University of Limerick, UL. It was brilliant. I know Skillnet is doing its best, but siloing is happening. With the rate of change we are expecting, the demands that exist and the engagement that is needed, we do not have time for silos. We all need to be in one room ensuring we are all hitting the same targets. We all have the same target at the end of the day, which is to ensure our country and people are protected and the people have the skills to survive in climate emergency situations.

My heart goes out to small and medium enterprises that are trying to deal with fossil fuel prices. If they have time to access it, funding is available to help them move away from it. I would love to hear about that, if it is happening. I would love to hear about the targets around the European energy performance building directive, EPBD. Carbon emissions are huge. Modular building was mentioned. Are we providing skills training for that?

There is a missing piece for the SEAI around business in communities. I have attended many events about what the SEAI can do for communities, but it is not hand holding and I am afraid it will have to start holding hands. Community workers from the SEAI have given workshops around community businesses and the community going green for many years, but they only cover the big stuff. They do not take people by the hand. That is the missing piece. We now see volunteers doing it. My brother set up a voluntary organisation to do the work and filled the gap because there was no help available. As a result, he has encouraged many business to get photovoltaic, PV, energy or look at air to water heat pumps. However, he did that voluntarily. The SEAI says there are great supports but people need their hands to be held. It is simply too confusing. There are too many agencies.

The green for micro programme and the climate action voucher are a perfect example of duplication. We need proper carbon emissions targets. Engagement is great, but action is the key. Targets cannot only be for engagement. Skillnet in particular has carbon emissions targets, but they are based on the climate action plan. They are not broken down to annual targets. I would love to see annual targets for average carbon emissions. The SEAI can engage and upskill all it wants, but if it does not have a carbon emissions target, it will not be met. I would love to see Skillnet thinking about having carbon emissions targets as the central focus of its programme. I would also love to know how Skillnet is engaging with the ETBs. We need to do things more quickly and we do not have time for duplication or to be confusing small businesses. They do not have the time for that kind of engagement.