Fiona O'Malley (Progressive Democrats)

We are overly dependent on imported fossil fuels and are thereby put at risk. As a Member of the previous Dáil, I spent a lot of time trying to convince the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to introduce a strong insulation scheme. Such a scheme benefits houses and, more importantly, the people who live in them. It is an extremely welcome initiative and I applaud the Government on it. I hope to qualify for a grant at some point.

We need to think about the amount of energy we consume. It is commendable that we are now addressing the fact that our housing stock has been constructed to low energy efficiency standards. It would have been nice to think that the Opposition would have supported us on this. I do not ask Senators to pat the Government on the back all the time but they should support positive initiatives. Opposition for its own sake does nobody any good.