Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

There is no need for the Minister to convince us on the merits of the shift to renewable energy. The issue at hand is how we are to adapt existing infrastructure to facilitate that shift. One of the factors in the increasing price of energy is that we are required to factor the cost of carbon into the price of electricity. Is the Government examining ways in which some of that money can be recouped? Electricity producers such as the ESB are given their allocation of carbon for free but they factor the cost of carbon into the price they charge to consumers. Is the Minister considering introducing something similar to, for example, a windfall tax which could create the type of fund, to which Deputy McManus referred, that is needed to facilitate competitiveness and infrastructural development?

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