Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the very disappointing news that yet again Ireland's emissions are on the rise when they should be going in the other direction. It is deeply concerning that once again we have the worst record in Europe. It needs to be said that more and more of our carbon budget is being consumed by ever more demand for electricity. The Government agreed at an EU level in November 2022 to set a target of 10% electricity demand reduction, of which 5% was mandatory. When asked about the measures by which Ireland would meet this 10% reduction, the Minister, Deputy Ryan, said with a straight face that the Reduce Your Use information campaign was part of it, as was the ESB’s Beat the Peak pilot scheme, and a public sector energy efficiency scheme. We know these measures are never going to reach a target of 10%. In fact, the public sector energy reduction scheme basically amounted to asking us all as civil servants to turn off our lights, not to use the kettle and to reduce the amount of heating.That was hardly the radical action that was up to the task.

Equally, the Reduce Your Use campaign information was effectively gaslighting people who live in apartment blocks because, any time they turned on their radio or TV, they were told that now was a good time to hang their washing out and not to use their dryer. Most people who live in apartments and flats, however, are not allowed to hang their clothes out as it is prohibited under their tenancy agreements. They had to listen to this and yet are forced to use clothes dryers.

There is also a serious dearth in the support required to take the necessary steps to retrofit homes. The Savills Ireland report which came out last night showed that one in three households cannot finance the measures required to retrofit their homes. They continue to be left behind by the Government schemes which prioritise wealthy households. Sinn Féin has proposed a very fair retrofitting plan which completely flips the current system and would help meet our climate targets, but it ensures low-income households, rather than the very restricted cohort of people who are eligible for 100% grants, would actually be eligible for retrofitting schemes. Unless we are addressing energy poverty and our carbon emissions, then all we are doing is transferring wealth to some sectors of our community when other people are being left behind. We are seeing that even in the warmer homes scheme where fossil fuel boilers are being installed into people’s homes, thus locking them into a fossil fuel future while those wealthy households who can subsidise the grant are having heat pumps installed. We need to address this imbalance so that we are not leaving people behind.

Equally, we need to address electricity demand and, once again, the elephant in the room is the data centres and the insatiable desire for setting these up in this country. We will never meet their targets if our electricity demand continues to grow at an exponential rate.