Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 24 March 2022
Public Accounts Committee
Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland: Financial Statements 2020
9:30 am
Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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We know about the European Green Deal with €1.8 trillion allocated to it. I am looking at the SEAI's accounts, which comprise government grants with a small proportion coming in through the BER. Is the State missing out on European funding? Is it drawing down everything that is available to us? What can be expected when it comes to European funding? Is the SEAI concerned about inflation in the construction sector and can that be mitigated by bulk-buying, for example? I am specifically thinking about retrofitting in that regard.
I refer to the public charging points. The local authorities are slow on this. When somebody is considering buying an electric car, for example, the range of that car is important. People have to know that when they get somewhere they will be able to charge up and come back. That should not involve having to knock on somebody's door and ask to plug one's car in. I live in Leixlip and yesterday I looked up where the public charging point is, and there is one in the railway station. Some 16,000 people live in Leixlip so if that is an example of how it is around the country we are far off the mark because people would be competing for that one charging point.