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

We can help but it would not be possible, as some have suggested, for the Government to offer all carrot and pay for all these changes.

That is not possible. We cannot find €50 billion over ten or 20 years to retrofit everyone's house but we can help. Most of the cost would have to be borne by householders but there are models that can help, for example, people retrofitting their houses and paying for it over a number of years through their ESB bill and the savings they make from energy. Similarly when it comes to transport, the big shift we need over the next ten or 15 years as people change their cars is for them to buy electric and hybrid vehicles. It is not possible for the Government to buy a new car for everyone and no reasonable person is suggesting that. What we can do is use smart measures, such as grants and carbon tax, to make it more economical for people to choose the electric vehicle or hybrid option. That is exactly what we need to do as well as, in particular, rolling out the infrastructure and the charging points throughout the country.

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