Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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It is worth remembering that embodied carbon is not on our inventory. It does not count towards our target, so we do not get confused about the two things.

I have a couple of questions. The Minister stands at the gateway of renewables. I commend the work that is going on. It is an exceptionally difficult area to get planning right. I would like to ask what has happened to the wind guidelines, for instance. They seem to be taking an eternity. More generally, is our interface with this sector, which is potentially transformative in an Irish context, up to best practice globally? We hear comments that other jurisdictions have easier turnkey approaches for investors to attract people more quickly. I would like to hear the Minister's comment on whether we are getting up to speed and if we are missing some of our timelines, like with the wind guidelines.

The second question I have is maybe a little bit to do with my constituency. I commend all the work the Minister is doing on vacant homes. I would like to see a new tranche of town centre first funding, please. One per county does not seem to be enough. I have a parochial issue. We are trying to promote compact living. Large parts of my constituency have been built over the past ten years. They have still to be taken in charge. Issues like public transport, regulation of transport and delivery of childcare have not come up to scratch. Our planning system has not caught up with the needs of compact living. If we want to move to lower carbon and lower movement, it cannot take ten years for estates to be taken in charge, albeit that the crash made it exceptionally difficult. Can the Minister address that?

One area where the Department missed its target is on the district heating steering group report being submitted to Government. Are we on target on district heating?

We have quite an ambitious target. I think it is 0.7 TWh of district heating by 2025. Will we deliver that?

I suspect the Minister has quite a few public buildings under his remit. The 40% target he is on track for with local authority stock is commendable but what about public buildings? Does he have a similar tracking of how rapidly it is moving? Given the pivotal role of local authorities, is the Minister taking on the idea of not just upgrading his own stock but also being an exemplar and offering greater potential? Even if a home is purchased but was developed, clearly there is a huge chance to do the whole estate together or closely adjoining estates. It seems to me the local authorities have not embraced that, despite urgings. Can we do more in that area?