Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am beginning to feel that the more we go through this legislation we find more holes than there would be in a leaky Irish Water mains pipe, but we will continue to raise the issues we are raising. I am dumbfounded by what I am hearing from the Ministers on the questions we are raising. This is a bona fide amendment into which there has been a good deal of thought. I am confused as to the reason the Department of Social Protection has been chosen to make the payment on the conservation grant scheme. From what we have heard it is clear it is not really measurable as a conservation measure. We are told that the Department of Social Protection is so strapped we had to see cuts in fuel allowances, respite care, child benefit, mobility grants, etc., but all of a sudden the Government can turn around and offer every household in the country this €100 grant. I wonder about the implications of the cost of that. What is the actual cost? How many households are involved? What is the estimated total cost of the conservation grant? The amendment is about publishing a report outlining how it is being implemented-----