Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We need to switch away from every possible use of gas. It will, though, have an interim role to play in a variety of areas. Regarding heating in buildings, and especially in new buildings, I agree with Deputy Leddin about the need to switch away from using gas connections as the future of heating and towards a range of other options, such as electric, biomass and other alternative sources. Codema, Dublin's energy agency, has done some good work in this area. My colleague, Ciarán Cuffe MEP, shared an interesting graphic from that agency on Twitter recently. It showed a map of the areas in Dublin, my city, where there is potential in this regard. We will have to do the same thing in every city and in every council area. I have been going out to discuss the local climate plans with members of councils across the country. One of the first things I say on such occasions is that as those councils work on their development plans they must explore where there is potential for district heating and where there is waste heat and also examine how we can design new residential communities which can avail of low-cost district heating systems and local heating solutions. Therefore, I agree with all three Deputies that this is the direction we must take.

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