Chairman:

I thank Mr. Scheer.

We are going to follow the same speaking pattern again. I propose that Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy takes Senator Mulherin's place. Then we will have Senator O'Sullivan, Deputy Dooley, Senator Marshall and Deputy Stanley. We will have our ten-minute slots at the beginning. Deputy Stanley will be the first speaker in our five-minute slots.

I will start with my own questions. I will begin with the Department. Reference was made to the national development plan and the measures over the next ten years that will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. No analysis has been done on this. When will that analysis take place? Does the Department believe we will reach our 2030 targets based on the national development plan?

As regards the burning of peat for electricity, as we know that has a significant impact on our carbon emissions. There are also sustainability questions that arise from importing biomass fuel, depending on where it is coming from. Should we not have strict sustainability criteria on the importation of biomass and what would the Department's views be on that?

This committee is going to visit the Tipperary Energy Agency in the coming weeks. We will see community-owned wind farms. We will hear from the community which has solar panels and which is working collectively at community level on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. There is clear expert evidence that community and citizen participation works in relation to our energy transition. What is the Department doing? What initiatives and supports are there in order to roll this out across the country? This is an example that is clearly working very well. We need to hear concrete proposals from the Department on what it is doing to help us reach our targets.

What discussions has the Department had with the ESB in facilitating citizen participation and allowing people to sell their surplus energy on to the grid?

On offshore electricity generation as part of the solution, we heard last week that there are a number of issues around planning, regulation and licensing in building offshore wind farms.

Where do we stand in the context of dealing with those challenges? What is the capacity of the grid? Will it be capable of taking that energy on, distributing it throughout the State and feeding it on into Europe?

The committee was told last week that the Department of Education and Skills has advised that heat pumps are unsuitable for new schools and that any unused energy generated from solar panels had to be spilled. It was stated previously that schools were ideal for solar and PV panels because they could export excess energy to the grid when closed at weekends and during the summer, thus generating money for the schools themselves. What is the situation with regard to Government policy on microgeneration? Is there a need for a more joined up approach from Departments vis-à-visour public buildings and the supports available through the RESS?

I ask Mr. Griffin to start with those questions and I will then bring in my colleagues.