Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I too extend my deepest sympathies to Deputy Naughten on the loss of his brother. I do not sit on this committee but Deputy Naughten chairs the Friends of Science Group in the Oireachtas. My deepest sympathies to him and his family at this difficult time.

I commend the committee on its work on this. I apologise on behalf of Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire who was due to take this but is unavailable at this time. It is a really important topic. I watched a number of the meetings and discussed with Deputy Ó Laoghaire some of the issues at the time. Deputy Ó Cathasaigh mentioned EnergyCloud Ireland. The company tagged me and many others, I am sure, in its online posts in the last 24 hours. The company stated that €10.28 million worth of energy was wasted last week due to constraints on the grid. That is the equivalent of 25,718 MW hours of power, which is enough to heat 8.5 million hot water tanks. EnergyCloud's initiative is really helping people at risk of, or living in energy poverty. It is a very practical measure but it is very clear that there is much greater potential for it.

Regarding the national retrofitting plan, we have been at loggerheads with Government on it. Our central argument is that there is not enough focus on energy poverty metrics and lifting people out of energy poverty in the national retrofitting plan. I have had lots of over and back with the Minister, Deputy Ryan, on this specific measure. We recognise the investment in it, although Sinn Féin would do the same and more. We also recognise the amount of work that is under way but, for us, there are fundamental gaps as regards equity.

We can pick at the numbers that have been outlined but I am really just hoping to set out our position. My colleague, Deputy Gould, was here yesterday when we had a debate on something or other and he gave the example of the social housing retrofitting programme. He said that, in either the city or county of Cork, based on current progress, it would take 200 years to retrofit the homes in that city or county. It is similar elsewhere. The programme is built in such a way that it is only going to hit a fraction of those houses out to 2030. I welcome the fact that there is a pilot programme that is to report in the second quarter of next year but we in Sinn Féin have been proposing a targeted scheme for people whose homes are heated with solid fuels. That is something that Social Justice Ireland, Friends of the Earth and others have echoed. We have a similar proposal regarding the potential of solar PV.

In all of this, questions need to be asked. There is very significant State investment and an awful lot of work being done. Industries are scaling up, matching that ambition from Government. We have to ask who is benefiting from it, however. We want everybody to benefit from it but the inverse care law comes into it. We met with people making the case for a DEIS plus programme in the audiovisual room earlier. Their argument was that they represent the most vulnerable communities. Everybody is getting free school meals and these other measures. We need a specific targeted measure that recognises the 50 or 100 schools. The inverse care law means that those who need this stuff the most should be getting the most of it.

Another point the Minister of State has made is a bone of contention between Government and those of us in the Opposition. I refer to the issue of carbon tax. We argue that we can match Government spend on climate action but that we would raise the money in a different way. The Government makes a different point. It points towards the year-on-year investment and the timeline out to 2030. The Comptroller and Auditor General's report from 2023 said that in and around 40% of the so-called ring-fenced money was not properly accounted for. Putting the argument aside, if the Government is saying that it is ring-fencing this money to address fuel poverty through social welfare schemes, the retrofitting plan and agriculture schemes, that money needs to be accounted for. The Comptroller and Auditor General has clearly said that those systems are not in place. That needs to be addressed. If there was a change of government, there might be an entirely different approach to carbon tax but is scéal eile é sin.

On the energy poverty strategy, for a long time during the term of this Government, we have argued that we need to get the strategy updated. It needs to be a priority focus. It needs to be central to everything we do. When we talk to the stakeholders about it, they talk about difficulties with the quality of data. Let us get those datasets talking to one other and let us get the researchers within Government agencies such as the SEAI and ESRI using them to best effect so that we can identify those people and areas most in need and respond to them.

My final point is on the cost of electricity, the potential role for communities and the need for aggressive and progressive reforms of the energy sector to drive down the cost of energy. While it is of course welcome to give money to people through energy credits at the end of every year, it is not sustainable. We need those fundamental reforms. I commend the report and all of the work that went into it.

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