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

The stories from the ESB, Bord na Móna and the EPA do not add up. My understanding is that the contracted tonnage has already been achieved. I ask the Minister to get answers to the questions I have raised and I would like a copy of those replies as well. Some 400 families are directly dependent on Lough Ree power station. Hundreds more are indirectly reliant on those jobs. We need an immediate transition fund of €125 million to be established. That is 5% of the climate action, rural regeneration and urban regeneration funds ring-fenced to provide alternative jobs for employees of Bord na Móna, the ESB and the communities dependent on those jobs. That must be approved by the Cabinet before the end of this month. We can then leverage that fund to get EU and European Investment Bank, EIB, funding to make a real difference to the local economy right throughout the midland counties.

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