John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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126. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment for an update on the latest developments in relation the development of synthetic fuel as a possibility to use as a fuel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42660/24]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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140. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment how he intends to encourage domestic biofuel production, including investment in research and development, and financial incentives for producers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43187/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 126 and 140 together.

I understand that the Questions refer to liquid fuels in the context of heating.

The Climate Action Plan includes a range of measures to address the use of fossil fuel in heating systems in buildings, and the National Heat Study contains the detailed analysis that is informing the development of options, policies and measures to decarbonise the heating and cooling sectors to 2050. The Heat Study considered a number of potential decarbonisation options for a wide range of dwelling and business types. This included the use of liquid biofuels such as hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO), solid biomass, biogases and other technologies such as heat pumps and district heating networks.

The recommendation of the Heat Study is that heat pumps are the optimal decarbonisation path for heating systems, with district heating, mostly fed by waste heat and heat pumps ,also being an path that should be widely deployed. There are, therefore, no current plans to provide support for the use of liquid fuels in a heating context.