Energy resilience campaign
Deputy Bruton called for a national campaign to reduce energy demand and reliance on imports, outlining practical measures. The Taoiseach strongly agreed and said a communications campaign on demand reduction would be launched.
I invite the Deputy to table it as a Topical Issue matter if he thinks it would be helpful. I call Deputy Bruton.
Comment on this
The Ceann Comhairle knows we are facing a climate crisis as well as the energy crisis. Does the Taoiseach agree that we now need a national energy resilience campaign to reduce our reliance on imported energy? The Taoiseach will know that other member states are proposing such a campaign to cut 10% of their energy use and up to 25% at peak times.
I would suggest seven S's: shallow retrofits; smart controls and meters; switching providers and modes; sharing platforms; storage capacity; solar; and saving on waste. We could build a campaign around these with relatively little money but a large impact, but a plan would be needed in each of these areas to deliver the campaign for homes and businesses, which are willing to adopt it.
Comment on this
I agree 100% with the Deputy. We do need such a campaign. The Minister is going to launch a communications campaign in relation to energy demand reduction, but I think the Deputy has outlined a very good list, one that we should work on as a country. Irrespective of the crisis, we need to move much more quickly in terms of reducing our dependency on fossil fuels in particular and move as fast as we can on the-----