John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response and I wish him well in his position. It is a critical role. Young people are very cognisant of the challenges ahead of us and they are up for the type of change that is necessary. I asked the actual cost because it is important to realise that if we do not address this, a significant cost to the Exchequer will arise and, as years pass, it will grow. As the Minister rightly said, we have credits from the recession years. That has brought us up to 2017 or thereabouts, and we will pay as we go forward from there.

It is critically important that the key elements for which the Government has responsibility are implemented. The Minister spoke about microgeneration and solar power. One advance in renewable energy that has not happened is a growth in the significance of commercial solar power. In 2015, 0.01% of electricity was generated from solar power. That figure has only grown to 0.04%. It is a tiny proportion of the whole. This is mostly because the Government has failed to produce guidelines around solar power. It has come up time and again. There is plan after plan, and planning application after planning application is granted, but we have not seen commercial solar power connected to the grid as a deliverable source of renewable energy as it should be.

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