Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I agree with him. First, I want to focus on renewables and the electricity sector in general. The two are completely connected. We are moving towards a renewable electricity system. Addressing the transport sector is probably the hardest thing. The electricity sector is probably proving to be the fastest in making the change, which is understandable because there are huge economic and security advantages to it, along with others, and we do have skills in the area. I believe I referred in my opening remarks to a reduction of approximately 21% in the first year. I understand the SEAI assessment in the first six months of this year is continuing into the year. It is not just about the roll-out of renewables; it is also about the benefit of interconnection, efficiency, storage and a range of another initiatives, but the renewables will be key. We know where we need to go to. We need 9 GW of onshore wind energy, 8 GW of solar energy and 5 GW of offshore wind energy by 2030. We now have approximately 5 GW, 1.5 GW and 0 GW, respectively. However, with regard to all three, I am very confident that if we can overcome the planning and legal difficulties we have, we can meet our environmental targets and significantly enhance our economic competitiveness. It is in our legal system, not just the planning system, that the bottlenecks are starting to appear.