Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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I thank our guests for their contributions and I note that we have had a thorough discussion.

I wish to follow up on what Senator Higgins said about locking in fossil fuel boilers into retrofitting schemes. I have raised the same point at committee meetings and in the Dáil. I would like to see steps taken to remove fossil fuel boilers from schemes.

I am not an engineer but I picked up on a comment that Ms Rogers made about research on heat pumps. I have read similar research but invariably the cause is poor installation as opposed to a failure with the heat pump which, unfortunately, has caused extraordinary reputational damage that I have seen in other reports relating to the UK. I agree with the sentiment expressed that we must remove fossil fuel boilers from schemes to retrofit homes and-or new homes.

A lot of what I wanted to discuss has already been touched on so I would like to ask Ms Petrie questions on self-disconnection. Frankly, I find it galling that energy providers charge customers a premium for using prepaid meters when prepay users remove the risk from arrears because they clearly cannot go into arrears; this is targeting of the most vulnerable people who find themselves in that situation with a prepaid meter. I am very concerned about self-disconnection, as is the committee which has raised the issue many times recently. I agree with Deputy Bríd Smith, which is a rare occasion, that we should remove them from the market. I do not think that they serve a purpose other than to ensure that those who are most at risk of energy poverty continue to be most at risk even with the best will in the world shown by the State in providing supports either directly or, as has been requested at this meeting, on a targeted basis. Do Ms Petrie or any of the other panellists wish to comment on that aspect?

On arrears experienced by low-income families, are our guests aware of a repository of information that allows them or Members of the Oireachtas to identify the level of arrears other than through the CRU?

Finally, on low-income families having access to renewable electricity or energy, yesterday I attended a launch by EnergyCloud and Fingal County Council of a scheme, which is supported by SSE Airtricity, to target social homes in Fingal with excess wind energy that, heretofore, was wasted. A target has been set to roll out the scheme to 10,000 homes by the end of the year. Is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul considering the scheme? Perhaps the other panellists will comment on that.