Ms Frances Fitzgerald:

I thank the Senators for their responses to our presentations, which show the very wide range of issues that impact on climate. Senator Horkan started off by discussing renewables and wind energy. Of course, the potential for renewables in Ireland is enormous. It is about getting the relevant legislation in place so that we can develop them and the investment, which is out there. Again, it is all about implementation and without question the opportunity is absolutely enormous. There is also the hydrogen area on which we do not have a national policy at this point yet last week a €3 billion hydrogen bank was announced by Ursula von der Leyen when she gave her state of the Union address. I think that the building blocks are all being put in place but it is about delivery.

Senator Seery Kearney has raised the issue that is on everybody's minds at the moment and that is how people are going to manage their energy bills, and how NGOs and organisations that provide vital services are going to cope with the scale of demand presented to them. The bottom line is going to be about the supports that we develop in the budget here in Ireland and the background funding that will be made available from Europe, but it is not going to be easy. It is about scaling up renewables as quickly as we possibly can and demand reduction.We have the list we need to do but, given the costs and what the Senator quoted in terms of the rates one organisation she is in touch with has to deal with, it will be very challenging. We will need to review what we are doing on an ongoing basis. I do not think a one-off will sort it for everybody. This is not a couple of months. It is a longer term crisis that will need ongoing review and response.

Many other areas have been mentioned. On the treaty, Ireland's position, as the Minister, Deputy Ryan, said, is that we want to support the Commission's efforts to negotiate meaningful reform of the treaty. If we cannot get to that point, we will withdraw in an orderly way. That is the official Government position.

Due diligence is important. We need to be ambitious on it and on the demands we make of companies, supply chains and so on. We do not think it is ambitious enough and want to make sure the requirements of the due diligence process are adaptable to size and resources, that we leverage the companies as much as we can and that we make opportunities for shareholders to have a voice, be involved and examine critically the supply chains companies use. It is a lively debate in the Parliament at present.