Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

As I understand it, the dividend is paid to the Department of Finance. Our overall budget allocation is then given to us by that Department.

The issue of high energy prices is crucial. We are engaged in a retreat from fossil fuels. At the same time, my Department is promoting an advance in digital technologies. The latter requires a great deal of electricity. As the advance into such technologies proceeds, it is a real competitive issue to have good, clean, green electricity available for use. There were several reasons electricity prices here were so high in recent years. However, the key reason was our exposure to fossil fuel as a percentage of our fuel mix.

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