Joe O'Toole (Independent)

There is much we could do.

I will tell the Minister a story. Last week the energy regulator attended a meeting of the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business. I was embarrassed with the lack of knowledge shown by the officials. They were not aware that Sustainable Energy Ireland offers grants for solar panels but not for wind generators. This is a basic piece of information in their line of country.

The ESB must wait for smart meters which can judge the time of the day at which a consumer uses electricity and charge accordingly. However, in most of Europe, if a consumer creates more electricity than he or she uses, for instance, by using a wind generator, this energy is given back into the grid and the consumer is paid for it. This is not rocket science and it is happening 60 miles up the road in Northern Ireland and in the UK. It is only small money but it is a clear incentive. Rather than wait for smart metering I would allow consumers install a smart meter.

Energy conservation is being portrayed as being out of reach of people. A passive house is portrayed on television as being almost impossible but 75% of the effort is very easy if a house is being constructed by direct labour. I spoke to a young teacher who is building a house near Kinvara. I met him in Senator Daly's constituency but he was building his house over the border in County Galway. He is putting in geothermal heating. He has triple glazing with Pilkington glass. He has got sheep's wool insulation. Every piece of sheep's wool in Ireland is exported. It used to be exported to Bradford and now it is exported to India. The spin offs in these areas are superb. Creating a whole new industry for sheep's wool insulation would be very welcome in the Minister's own constituency.