Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Neville for raising the important issue of climate change and I thank him and his colleagues for attending the launch this morning. We must do many things to rise to the challenge of climate change. They will include investment, policies on tax and regulation and lifestyle change. The first allocations under the climate fund were announced earlier. Essentially, what is involved is using new technologies to reduce CO2 emissions. The allocations include funding of over €10 million to the ESB for improving the infrastructure for electric vehicles, funding to Gas Networks Ireland for anaerobic digestion and reducing emissions related to agriculture, funding for local authorities to allow them to move to light-emitting diodes, LEDs, instead of existing lights, thus reducing emissions, funding for Dublin City Council and South Dublin County Council for district heating schemes, again enabling us to reduce the amount of oil used to heat homes, and funding for Irish Rail to invest in a new hybrid fleet. As we electrify the train lines to Drogheda, Maynooth and Sallins, it can start buying hybrid trains which can operate on both diesel and electricity.

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