Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources to the House to discuss how we are setting about achieving our renewable heating targets for 2020, which we are obliged to do. As the House will know, we are required to obtain 12% of heating for homes and businesses from renewable sources by 2020. There are two aspects to it. First, we have a carbon tax which was introduced in 2010. That tax was increased in May 2013 and 2014. Second, we should debate how this money is being spent and whether the carbon tax, as applied, is a crude instrument to achieve our targets. This is especially so in the case of heating homes for people who are on very low incomes. They do not have a choice whether to buy coal or oil, although carbon tax is levied on such solid fossil fuels. Such people cannot afford to buy new heating systems.

I compliment the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland for its hard work in improving energy efficiency in old houses. This means that people are using less heating while the heat generated is better contained. However, where is the money from the carbon tax going?

We should also have a renewable heating incentive to encourage people to install woodchip heating facilities both for households and commercial enterprises. It is not currently attractive because a barrel of oil is relatively cheap. In addition, given the advances in technology, solar panels now even work in Ireland, including the west. While this was a problem for quite some time, people could now be incentivised to use solar panels both for businesses and homes.We could look at co-locating solar energy farms beside wind farms and we might get around some of the planning objections that can arise in trying to build renewable energy infrastructure. I ask that the Minister be invited in for a debate in the House.