James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

A €1.5 billion retrofitting programme would create a lot of employment for apprentices. It would be quite extraordinary if we were to spend the entire NTF surplus on retrofitting. It is probably unlikely to happen. In any event, the provisions in the existing legislation set out clearly that it can only be used for particular well-defined purposes which have stood the test of time for 25 years. I do not propose to change that in any regard. It remains absolutely true to the original mission of the Act. I welcome the engagement, but it is not sensible to add in such extra constraints at this stage.

See this speech in context