Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I have a few questions. The first is on the temporary wage subsidy scheme. We had representatives of various sectors before the committee and many of them feared the impact of energy costs, in particular on some more vulnerable sectors. Essentially, what is worth considering is whether particular sectors will be confronted with difficulties above and beyond others. In my constituency, I think of the fishing sector with so much cost involved in keeping their catches fresh given their relatively short shelf life. Is the Minister of State looking at particular sectors that may have difficulties? The type of suggestions being offered were going earlier than September or having a higher rate.

It seems to me from the evidence we heard that some people have been pretty smart at doing things like fitting doors on fridges and putting in solar panels. The current grant levels for some of those measures are quite low. There is an old saying about giving a person a fish or teaching them to fish. If we can do something that permanently reduces the energy costs, there may be significant advantages. In the case of attic insulation and cavity wall insulation, we are providing up to 80% of subsidies for certain lower-hanging fruit, to use that term, that could cut our energy use very quickly. Would the Department consider that?

I am interested to hear about the loan scheme performance. I note that the Minister of State outlined that the one run by EI performed better in terms of default than he expected. How did the future growth loan scheme perform? Why are the names changed all the time? It would be better for take-up if we kept the same name. Everyone would know this is the future growth loan or whatever it is. We keep coming up with new names in new legislation. I know we probably have to go through state aid, but we should keep the name the same.

Has the Department started to develop sectoral strategies for circularity? I know the big focus is on climate. This week the ESRI showed that our imported inputs for sectors under the Department's oversight, although they are not all under its remit, include 18 million tonnes of embodied carbon. For imported consumer goods and services we bring in 65 million tonnes of embodied carbon. Our total production is only 60 million tonnes. If we tot those up, we are taking in an awful lot more embodied carbon. The issue is that people are not paying much heed to how this works. Is the Minister of State considering schemes that would support segregation, material selection, renewables – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, SMART, and lean?