Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I listen to Lyric FM in the morning. It is one thing having half the population of the country being depressed by the unending dirge of misery and negativity one gets from 7 a.m. until midnight, without me being depressed because we would have no hope at all if that were to happen. I did not hear the programme but I will take Deputy Murphy’s word for it that it was as dismal as she suggests.

She is correct; this is one thing that could be done. In a country that imports its fossil fuels what we can do to affect the price of oil or gas on the world markets is limited, but we can make savings in energy and we can use energy more efficiently. That is what we are trying to do.

There is no doubt that the scheme will continue. I am currently locked in mortal combat trying to hold on to as large a budget in this area as I can for next year. I do not see it being a clear ending on 31 December 2013 and on 1 January it is a brave new world. I do not think it will happen that way.

I am worried that there is a third factor at play in the point raised by Deputy Murphy, namely, that the category of householder who like her is energy aware and wants to get the job done, is gone in the first flush of applications, and that we will have to evangelise to get the next tier. That is an issue as well.

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