Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for those very important questions. As I pointed out earlier, the €300 million decarbonisation fund has seen significant allocations over the past two years, with approximately €28.8 million allocated in 2023 and more than €38.3 million this year. Companies with significant emissions are on the radar. Diageo, for example, has used it to put together a five or six year plan for the short term to identify how it is going to get to net zero. Sharing this information with industry will very important because the State is giving environmental aid to enable these companies go make this change.

The Deputy is quite right to emphasise the importance of the SMEs. I have made a number of changes to the €10,000 energy efficiency grant over the past couple of weeks. We have seen a 100% increase in uptake for the grant because we have made the application process much simpler. There were significant conditions attached for people applying for the grant. I know the amount is small in the greater scheme of things but it can make a hell of a lot of a difference to a small retailer, a coffee shop or a small restaurant. We have seen examples of how people can reduce their energy bill by €1,000 or €1,500 a month.

On the bigger issue of the roadmap and the journey we are on, it involves district heating policy and energy performance in the context of the building directives. It also addresses energy efficiency measures that can be used. There is a huge body of work that will require substantial funding before it can be embarked upon. We will be supporting business to do that. We know that we have decoupled economic growth from increases in emissions. They are decreasing now but we are not taking anything for granted because there are significant challenges ahead, as the Deputy pointed out.