David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I accept that because the Minister is not really responsible for this matter and the Minister who is responsible for it cannot be here but my point is that this is meant to be a new departure in how we hold Government and Ministers to account on climate action. It is the transition statement on what Government Departments and agencies have done to mitigate climate change. One of the core functions of the OPW is to manage Government buildings. The Minister in the Chamber should be in a position to tell us how it manages that, what level of work has been done in recent years, how much money has been spent and, maybe more importantly, how much money will be spent in the future to retrofit Government buildings. I imagine the State would want to lead by example and make sure the buildings it manages and controls are retrofitted to the highest energy rating and the highest levels of energy efficiency and to lead by example in mitigating climate change.

I appreciate and accept that the Minister is not the line Minister, who probably should be here, but in the short time I have left, I ask him to write to me about that detail because it is important.

We may soon have a new Government.Deputy Cowen mentioned retrofitting, which is very important for public and private housing and other private buildings, and the State has both an obligation and a role to play in this area. We now have to look at Government buildings and what we will do to improve their energy efficiency.

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