Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

If the Minister of State were making a reasonable point I would listen to him. We have approximately eight such energy committees throughout the country. They were initially funded by way of European grant. Most of them now operate on a shoestring and do not know whether they will be in existence next year. Their work has been ignored by the Government. We will make sure that every county will have such a power by statute. They will have the support services and the skilled people. We will drive the agenda locally to reduce carbon emissions. We will make sure, as the Government should be doing, that every school, hospital, small business and larger industry is required to outline their plan for the following two years, showing what they are doing to reduce their carbon footprint and how they will improve their energy efficiency. We will ask them whether we can help them devise new schemes, show them what is international best practice and tell them how to do their job. We will be on the ground doing the business. That it is not happening at the moment shows the Government's abject failure. It is interested in climate change now only because it is required to be.

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