Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I must stop Mr. Coghlan but if he or any witness wants to come in at any time, I ask the witness to indicate and I will call him or her. On transport, the committee has done work on the decarbonisation of transport and we will publish a report on that shortly.

I will take a number of questions, which I ask the witnesses to bank and if there is a particular question a witness wants to speak on, even if the question is not directed to them, please feel free to indicate. I will start with the Department. Regarding its comprehensive presentation, the committee would be interested to hear about major initiatives the Department is considering. For example, the retrofitting of public buildings would not only reduce our emissions but would be a major initiative to lead the way in that regard. What are the Department's plans regarding targets, dates and actions on reducing emissions? Also, are there are plans for increased multi-annual budgets to help households in terms of retrofitting? Last week, the committee heard that if one wants to have a complete retrofit of one's household, it would cost up to €40,000. Is the Department considering measures that would encourage households in terms of such retrofitting?

My next question is for Professor FitzGerald. I do not disagree about having to increase our carbon tax but if we move away from dirty energy, we need to encourage people to use alternative clean energy and I am not sure we are there yet. Professor FitzGerald might expand on that and how we need to proceed in that area.

My next question is for Mr. Joe Healy of the IFA. Can he explain why the green, low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, payments are so popular with the farming community? He said it is over-subscribed. He might expand on that issue. I ask the witnesses to bank those questions. I will call Deputy Stanley and then Deputy Dooley, who indicated.