Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Councillor Adam Teskey to the Public Gallery. He is a hardworking councillor from Limerick and it is great to see him in the Chamber. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate at some stage with the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications on energy and retrofitting of homes.Retrofitting is a huge area. There are considerable grants given by the Government in regard to this. We would like to know how this is progressing. My experience with the SEAI is very good. It is very efficient. Its inspectors are very good at the work they do. People who had inspections after retrofitting of their homes are delighted with the inspections because that gives them reassurance that the job was done well. They can get an update on the satisfaction rate with the people who installed the retrofitting. There is a range of areas that are not grant-aided such as small domestic turbines. This is an area the Government should look at because along the west coast particularly, we are repeatedly told that we have the highest wind speeds in Europe. It is the best area for turbines. Quite a considerable number of householders would avail of small wind turbines if there were grants available. I would like a debate in the Chamber, if the Leader could arrange that before the summer, because we would like to know how people are getting on who have availed of retrofitting with solar panels, how they are being treated by energy suppliers and whether they are getting paid for the number of units of energy they are exporting. This is an area that needs to be examined. The Government could expand it.