Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I have a number of questions. There is something Orwellian about the term "savings" here. They are missed targets in the national broadband plan and retrofitting. We were told that carbon taxes would be ring-fenced to retrofit homes and protect people from fuel poverty. That carbon tax is being siphoned off to pay for backup electricity generated by fossil fuel. That demand is induced by data centres and Government policy. Customers, many of them living in poverty, will pay a premium for that. It is a perverse scenario I find quite incredible and is a clear indictment of a failed Government policy. It flies in the face of statements made by the most senior members of Government, including Deputy Micheál Martin himself, about the ring-fenced nature of the carbon tax.

We are dealing with a €30 million transfer. Will we have the same opportunity to deal with the €60 million for retrofitting?