Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I start by welcoming the extension of the hot school meals programme announced by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and the Government yesterday. To think there will now be an extra 900 primary schools included in this programme is fantastic. I looked at the list from my own county and 27 extra schools will get this. This is fantastic because we know that at least children will get this very important meal. I do not know anybody who does not welcome this and I hope it will be extended further. It is very important that the Minister has done this and to think that from April 2024, I do not know whether it will be 1,400 or 1,500, schools will be involved is really significant.

I am not as happy about the second thing. I am really disappointed the Government decided to reduce the grant for domestic solar panels by €300, from €2,400 to €2,100. In my eyes this is a big error. We spend day after day, week after week, and month after month encouraging people to look at new, environmentally friendly ways of heating their homes and then we reduce the grant. One of the reasons we were told the grant has been reduced is because the cost of solar panels has come down. We should be increasing that grant significantly, year by year, to encourage more and more people. After all we are trying to get rid of fossil fuels. We are doing a lot on that. When people, particularly in rural areas, who have had to rely on fossil fuels quite a lot want to make the changes they need to make, surely they should not be penalised. It is a big error. Perhaps we could ask the Minister to come to the House. It will not happen before Christmas but early in 2024 - because the cut will come in during 2024 - we should ask him to reverse that and to not allow that to happen because it should not happen. It is important that we make an issue out of this and make sure that, from an environmental perspective, people have economical heat in their homes.