Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

We are committed to providing the investment that is required. I am being very honest in saying I am not convinced currently of the need for more legislation in this area. There is a lot of legislation in place. It is an implementation issue now in terms of how quickly we can accelerate delivery.

Most sectors of our economy are seeing a decrease in emissions, including agriculture and transport. Our electricity is now cleaner than ever before. Last year marked the first year in which no peat was used for power generation, which was a symbolic end to a high-carbon era. It reflects the structural transformation under way in our energy network. Wind energy provided 48% of Ireland's power last February. In January, Ireland reached the important milestone of hitting 5 GW of installed onshore wind capacity. EV sales increased by 23% in April this year compared with the same month last year. Home retrofitting is scaling up. I agree with the Deputy that we need to go further but we are beginning to see the direction of travel. We must back that up with investment but also by making sure projects are delivered more quickly, particularly in the area of offshore renewable energy.

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