Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will respond to some of the interesting, insightful and valuable comments of Senators, for which I thank them.

Senator Murphy referred to Shannonbridge and Lanesborough and stressed the importance of taking local communities into account. One aspect of those locations is that they have very valuable grid connections, which could be used for renewable energy connections, storage or other energy infrastructure. There has been a history of jobs in energy, whether in Bord na Móna or the ESB, in the midlands. I hope the just transition funding will help.

I am happy to hear that farmers are showing enthusiasm for solar energy. It can be deployed quickly and helps with our energy resilience. We do not have all our eggs in one basket when it comes to electricity. The price of one fuel, whether gas or oil, can go up or there could be a day with no wind or sun, so we want a combination of energy sources. We are heavily tilted towards wind and gas and we need more sources. The more solar we can generate, the better. Senator Burke referred to domestic solar energy, which is something we may be able to rapidly deploy.

Senator Burke asked whether we can delay the dismantling of the Derrybrien wind farm or get it turned on again. As the Senator will be aware, the matter was the subject of a legal decision which makes it difficult to do anything with it. There is a fundamental problem with building wind farms on active bogs, as was done early on. If there is any way we could do something with Derrybrien, I would be delighted rather than having to take the wind farm apart.

The Senator also asked about the possibility of having small wind turbines along with domestic solar energy. The orthodox view, certainly a few years ago, is that small wind turbines were too inefficient and it is always better to have larger wind turbines. I am happy to look at this again to see if there has been any improvement in the technology. It is another example of the need to have both sources, so that if one of them is not working, the other can be used.

Senator Buttimer asked that every effort be made to ensure that public transport fares are as low as possible. Our cuts to public transport fares were a cost-of-living measure. They are also a positive measure. Often, when trying to bring in climate action measures, they can be seen as negative if they are taxes or levies or ban certain things. Having positive strong attractive measures helps people to get on board and can be the difference between deciding to use a bus or not. I certainly see that with young people. People under 24 are seeing that their public transport fares dropped dramatically and they are now making many journeys they otherwise would not have taken. We need to look at that in the budget. As the Senator said, there will be many voices seeking to have the public transport fare cuts, which were a temporary cost-of-living measure, maintained.

Senator Boylan asked about a demand-side study. I will find out if there are demand-side studies under way. Anything that reduces demand is even better than something that generates renewable energy.