Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I presume somebody will be nominated to take responsibility for each of the 97 actions because, without that level of responsibility, the actions may well not be delivered. Obviously, the plan must be very practical if it is going to deliver the savings. The Minister is correct that a huge amount of money could be saved in terms of energy efficiency, including in the public service.

Is the public sector energy efficiency working group meeting regularly and has it been delivering on the previous action plan? I know there are some very good examples of best practice in place as a prototype in several different sections of the public service. It is important there is more than a silo-based approach and that there is a cross-sectoral approach within the public service.

The Minister said the retrofitting of buildings is limited by the amount of money that will underpin it. While I accept this, is there any prospect of leveraging funds beyond national funds for such a scheme? We have not only an obligation to meet targets at EU level because, if we do not achieve those targets, we will probably have a big demand on the Exchequer by virtue of the fact we will have to buy carbon credits. With an eye to 2050, we need to be looking way beyond 2020 if we are going to meet the targets.

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