Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I am confident that there is a clear realisation across the Government of the opportunities presented by this for employment generation, wealth generation and emissions reductions in our country. We tend to concentrate on the area of power generation to the detriment of other areas and I hope we may also exceed the targets relating to heat. Regarding transport we must be careful not to focus solely on our supply target and must consider demand reduction. In general, the target for energy efficiency in our National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency will be crucial and I hope great attention is paid to it. As we roll out that plan we must attempt, in the short to medium term, to exceed the targets on energy saving, in addition to targets on energy use and generation. I welcome the Deputies' comments and agree that we need to exceed targets.

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