Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As we have reached the end of the first round, I will ask a few questions. It would not be fair to members to spend all the time I would need to go through all the questions I have, so I will put only a few of them to the witnesses. I am very happy to hear about the national heat study that was just mentioned by Mr. O'Mahony and referred to earlier in the session. I had a good read of the report on the train this morning but I did not get all the way through it. It looks like a very good study and I commend the SEAI, in the first instance, on it. It is a significant piece of work that will help the SEAI charge forward. I think we will be leaning on it for some years to come. Of course, it will evolve and I am sure there will be reviews of it in time.

One issue that jumped out at me was the four scenarios that are posited for reducing emissions and reducing energy use in buildings through to 2050. There is a baseline but there are also the balanced, high electrification, decarbonised gas and rapid progress scenarios. In the cumulative graph, there is a significant gap between the rapid progress scenario and the other scenarios in terms of cumulative emissions. It is 60 or 70 megatonnes over the course of the programme, through to 2050, which amounts to about one full year of Ireland's total emissions. I am interested to hear more about that. Everybody has correctly spoken about the urgency of this. Is the rapid progress path one that we can achieve and is it what the SEAI is aiming to achieve?

The study also mentions district heating, which is an area we are way behind on in this country. There is some good work being done. Will the SEAI tell us more about the potential for district heating? I am curious to know whether it has engaged with local authorities on the issue. The development plans will be finalised in the coming months and it seems to me that if district heating is not built into local authority development plans, progress on district heating might be stalled for a few years.

Will the witnesses talk about the legislative barriers to prevent further installation of fossil fuel boilers? What are those barriers? Can they be removed and when should they be removed? I will come back with more questions in the second round.