Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The fact the dialogue has not commenced is not a block to action. We have published the final consultation on the renewable heat incentive scheme. It will be up and running this year. We have published a discussion document on the mitigation plan. The formal consultation on that will begin in March. We are now working on the adaptation plan. We will also consider the replacement for the renewable energy feed in tariff, REFIT, scheme and publish proposals on that.

What was important was to put these documents out into the public domain and start the discussion in order that there is a context to the debate on the national dialogue. The plan for the national dialogue is that it will be much more far-seeing and far-reaching. We will focus on 2050 rather than 2020. Regarding our 2020 targets, a renewable energy progress report was published by the European Commission on 1 February. The report at this stage projects that by 2020, Ireland will be at 15.5% of its 16% target, which is a shortfall of 0.5%. I am not happy with that, but the trajectory is not as bad as the impression has been given, and we have far harder challenges to meet in 2030.

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