I call Deputy Harty on behalf of the Rural Independent Group.

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

Groups need to decide who will be the acting leader. I cannot pacify everybody. Groups need to sort out their own problems.

I am the acting leader today. On budget 2020 and the legislation that will flow from it, there is a proposal to set up a just transition fund of €6 million to help communities to move away from high carbon sources of energy to low sources, which is a reference to peat and coal burning stations. The fund is to be used to mitigate the significant effects on workers and local communities as the transition happens. However, it is to be confined to peat burning stations in the midlands and will not apply to the Moneypoint plant in west Clare. Will the Taoiseach and the Government consider extending the just transition fund to the Moneypoint plant and surrounding communities and workers who will also experience the economic shock as we move to low-carbon energy production?

I would welcome a brief response from the Taoiseach.

The Deputy has raised a very valid question. It is intended, by the middle of the decade, to close the Moneypoint plant and remove coal from the grid when it comes to electricity generation. The sum of €6 million announced in the budget is for the midlands, more specifically, the peatlands, including places such as counties Kildare and Longford. It is part of our response to the fact that peat that is being phased out in electricity generation. As I said, the sum of €6 million is for the midlands. We will need a separate but just transition response for the Moneypoint plant. The ESB is able to redeploy staff, but there will be a loss of income in that part of County Clare, thus we will need a just transition fund for the also. That funding will be separate and form part of a separate announcement at a later date.