Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I also congratulate the Minister and his team, including the Minister of State, Deputy Billy Kelleher, whose appointment is long overdue. This is clearly a case of Cork versus the rest of the country in terms of the ministerial turnout. They should all be wearing red ties, if not red jerseys.

I appreciate that it is early in the season of replies but I invite the Minister to read his reply in the privacy of his office and realise what nonsense it is. He states that he cannot possibly measure the impact of energy savings. Turning off those machines is clearly a waste of time if one cannot measure the outcome of it. One can look at a bill, as any sensible householder would, and see the impact of turning off all the PCs by comparing what the bill was before. This is the new reality for all of us and I invite the Minister to reconsider, before we get back to real politics in September, measures by which we can quantify the impact of carbon footprint. If the Department cannot identify and measure the cost reductions it is not in the real business of addressing the question of energy conservation. The Minister has responsibility for the relative agencies and leasehold of buildings. That agencies do not have responsibility for heating because they have leased a building is a cop-out. They have responsibility for energy conservation.

I must adjust my observations about the all-Cork turnout now that Deputy McGuinness has arrived. I congratulate Kilkenny on beating Wexford last week. It was a tour de force.

If we are serious about the issue, which is equivalent to gender equality in the past decade, we need measurement and efficiency. Systems of analysis, measurement, monitoring and quantifying of cost savings must be improved. The reply leaves much to be desired.

See this speech in context