Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the deputations for their presentations. I engaged with Trócaire in advance of the meeting. I read much of the documentation provided. I have researched some of it. I thank Deputy Pringle for putting it down. It is probably the first time this committee has engaged with pre-legislative scrutiny on something that does not involve a member supporting it. It is indicative of the support of this committee. We are prioritising the business of a non-member over our own business. That is a positive sign.

The explanatory memorandum is short and clear-cut. In one way, it is about removing Ireland Strategic Investment Fund from investing in fossil fuels, but the topic is broader. There are many members of the committee and the Gallery is full. We have three sessions this afternoon so my comments will be relatively brief.

I thought Mr. Bond's presentation was good, especially on the idea of disruption that we are all changing. We are all sitting here with smartphones, but ten years ago we would not have considered the possibility of their existence. We are looking at electric cars and the way people move around. Change is rapid, especially in the energy sphere.

The deputations have brought to us today the idea that we should be doing it for reasons other than the moral argument, which was certainly among the arguments of Deputy Pringle and Trócaire. They suggested we should be leading ourselves there. However, there is a commercial logic to this as well in that energy companies, coal companies and oil companies are towards the end rather than the start of where they are going. Fossil fuels eventually will run out or become harder or more expensive to harness. Even if we can harness them, we have the challenges of Paris and climate change.

There is a commercial aspect to what we are doing. Can Mr. Bond put a value on State investment in fossil fuel companies? Does Mr. Bond have any indication of the value there at the moment? What has the State invested in those companies? How much money would be available if we removed ourselves from those companies? What is then available? Is there any suggestion that we should get involved with the newer technologies, including solar, wind, lithium batteries and so on? Pardon the pun, but we could get burned for investing in the wrong thing. There is a future in all of this stuff.

Unfortunately, we saw the issue with cladding. The wrong type of cladding can have tragic consequences. Certainly, insulating homes better and having better fuel consumption in terms of motor vehicles and so on is vital. There is considerable scope when we look at our greenhouse gas figures per capita, given that they are so high. Can the deputations enlighten us on what we have tied up in fossil fuel companies at the moment? What might we do with that money if we did not have it tied up?