Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his comments on farmers. I do not for one minute doubt his total commitment to getting things right but, at the same time, he said this Bill is so well crafted, it cannot be changed, and that is a flaw. Deputy Richard Bruton stated earlier that people will be left behind, I suppose, and that is a fact.

People in Gort lost a bus service a couple of weeks ago. That was public transport and the only answer to such a problem now seems to be the private buses. We should think about people who cannot afford to put in the air-to-water heat pumps, a current technology for heating, as opposed to oil heating. They might have to spend up to €25,000 to have that installed in a standard house. There are grants for this but not enough. What do I say to the people in fuel poverty who are waiting up to two years for a retrofit inspection to be done on a house? What do I say to people who might want to buy an electric car but are afraid to do so because there are not enough electric chargers?

Many things need to be done. Sometimes we might rush ahead to become best in class, which is fine, but we are forgetting about the detail. The carbon budget will be set by the Minister outside the House but it is important to remember that with everything we discuss and change - we might have electric trains and buses with this, that and the other, with public transport for everybody - where will the money come to pay for it?

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