Use of retrofitting underspend
Deputy Cronin criticised using money from a home-retrofitting underspend for gas and diesel infrastructure and said older people are freezing. The Minister defended the move as ring-fenced spending for future energy security.
When Sinn Féin criticises the increases in carbon tax, we are lambasted and told that this is all being ring-fenced for climate action. The Minister is taking €40 million from an underspend in retrofitting houses. That is a case of missed targets. It will be used to spend on gas and diesel plant infrastructure. Old people have contacted me and they have been freezing for the past few weeks. They have to turn on the heat for an hour or two every night. They are grateful that the weather forecast is good. This is all because of our red carpet for data centres and the increased electricity demand from them. Will the Minister stop saying he will ring-fence carbon taxes and promise not to increase carbon taxes in the next budget, please?
Comment on this
It is ring-fenced, which gives certainty for the next ten years. We will transform our buildings by retrofitting them. If, in the instance the Deputy mentioned, there is an underspend, and we discussed this yesterday in the committee, rather than returning that to the Exchequer, it is appropriate for us to use it to provide the energy security various Deputies here said we need.