Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I have a couple of questions. I refer to some of the language around the €200 and its relationship with VAT. To be clear, households can expect to see a reduction of a total of €200 three times. It will be one hundred and eighty-whatever euro plus VAT. It will be a total of €200. The last time around, there was a switch in relation to VAT in the middle of it and people did not see the reduction that they expected to see. Now, it is clear. It will be a total reduction of €200 on three occasions.

In terms of the local authority commitment, we heard from the representative bodies and local authorities. Is it clear what the funding will be allocated towards? Is it staff? Is it the preparation of local authority climate action plans? Is it boots on the ground to deliver on those plans? Is it to populate the local authority climate teams? They had indicated to us that to resource those climate teams might cost in the region of €11 million. What exactly will the funding go towards and deliver in 2023?