Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste answered part of the question on Littleton. A waste facility has been developed there and it is hoped that waste facility can continue to expand. On the broader issue of the use of the just transition fund, as the Deputy knows, this was established for the first time as a result of the introduction of the carbon pricing and we recognise that a number of counties will be calling on the resources of this fund. We will seek to be broad in our approach but in the immediate term the concentration has been on the losses that have recently occurred as a result of the foreclosing of the expected electricity generation from peat in the midlands. We have not ruled out the provision of funding in the other regions and I know the Moneypoint issue was raised with me, for example. The terms and conditions have not yet been worked out and Kieran Mulvey, who has been appointed as the just transition commissioner, will be making recommendations on how we should do that. The likelihood is that support would come from the platform for coal regions in transition because the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund is specifically confined to situations where international trade has disrupted employment. In the carbon impact sector here, it is the platform for coal regions in transition that would come into play and that has been extended to include peat.

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