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

The Deputy is right in saying the climate action delivery board is an important element. I was Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in 2016 when we designed the climate action plan, which was designed to get every Department on board with the primary challenge at the time, namely, to create employment. It operated through the Department of the Taoiseach to hold people to account for commitments that had been made. That model is vital if we are to achieve this, and the fact that it is coming from the centre of Government is important.

I thank the Deputy for acknowledging the progress on electricity. Even as recently as 2016, when the previous Government commenced, we were 24% dependent on solid fuels for our electricity generation.

That has now come down by one third to 8% and as we know, and with mixed emotions, it will come down again dramatically as peat, which is the dominant remaining element of that, faces a phasing out. By contrast, renewables, even in those few years, have gone from 27% to 37%, so we are heading close to that magic number of 40%. Of course, we are way behind in renewables in heating and transport, which will make up part of our commitment.

The EU Green New Deal is a real opportunity. Some of the policy instruments being considered in it are very innovative. Obviously, it has to get its funding lines in place. Some of them are in, for example, just transition. We are already preparing a territorial plan, as it is described, for the midlands in order that we can be in a position to avail of that. As Deputy Leddin rightly said, the wave of renovation and retrofitting is another element whereby we can not only tap into funding lines but also learn from successful approaches in other countries. There are countries that have done significant things and I think there is a sense among EU climate ministers that this is a time when we need to work together within the Union to get commitment to structural change.

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