Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Certainly Deputy Wallace's expertise is welcome and I have taken a note of what he has said. It is most helpful, as are the insights from other colleagues. As Deputy Colreavy said, it is right that we should have a sense, as best we can, of the extent of the issue. Deputy Moynihan also mentioned the point about older local authority schemes.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland does a great deal of work in this area. As I mentioned earlier, I re-launched the Better Energy Warmer Homes initiative last March. The SEAI is progressing a number of innovations which could assist in respect of the point the Deputies have made. These include the idea of a better green energy star - a quality rating system; the proposal that we should engage more with local actors, such as credit unions and local authorities and so on, to promote community level action; that we should target an advertising campaign for solar, thermal, boiler and heating controls; that we should target public relations and radio promotions in areas of low coverage - Leinster is an area of low coverage, by the way; that we should target home owners who have done shallow retrofits or those with expired applications; that we should review a declaration of works; that we should carry out a survey of expired home owner grants, and so on. These practical innovations from the SEAI would address many of the issues that have been raised in the House.

I had not anticipated the question on the regulator. The regulator is an independent statutory body. If Deputy Broughan has any commentary or insights on the matter or on any aspect of our energy policy I would be happy to consider them in the context of the energy White Paper. We are getting close now, as Deputy Colreavy and Deputy Moynihan will know, because they have debated this issue in the House before. I would certainly be glad to hear any insights that the Deputies have in respect of any of these matters for the energy White Paper.

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