Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. It is clear that the contribution will be solely driven by the commercial sector and the large industrial users and it seems that those are the sectors the Department is targeting in terms of incentivising production. It is vitally important that we meet the heat targets set. The Minister pointed out that we are only reaching 6.6% of renewable energy production through the heat sector. We need to target domestic users. There are more than 2 million homes in this country, the vast majority of which are heated by fossil fuels - by oil and gas. If we are serious about achieving the targets and getting buy-in from the public in terms of tackling climate change and meeting our renewable energy targets, the Government needs to incentivise domestic users. There are organisations around the country, such as the Donegal woodland owners co-operative which are developing models and market streams for wood as a fuel for households, and they would benefit greatly from a domestic incentive that would encourage more farmers to go into the area of forestry, develop it and create jobs in the rural sector. It is vitally important for the Minister to encourage that.

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