Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is saying that this is great and that we should be celebrating. That is not good enough. On alternative, why do we not hit those who are responsible for the large portion of carbon emissions in this country? Why do we not hit the wealthy? The Minister probably saw the report from Oxfam last week. The richest two billionaires in this country have more wealth than half of the population. How about we hit them with a wealth tax, which would raise about €6 billion, and invest the money we get in the sort of rapid transition we need?

The truth is that the Minister's plan of getting to 120,000 homes per year will not be achieved on the basis of the warmer homes scheme and it will certainly not be achieved in light of the extremely slow progress of the councils. It is a disgrace how long people in council housing have to wait. Instead, the Minister is simply hoping to achieve what needs to happen on the basis of incentivising the wealthier households that can afford the work by providing grants to them. We should have grant schemes for them. The Minister is not giving enough money to those who need it most, namely, those in council homes and those who would qualify for the warmer homes scheme.

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