Successive governments have not capitalised on the incredible renewable energy potential in our coastal waters. Not only could we take significant climate action, secure energy sovereignty, prevent future crises like this price crisis and threats of blackouts, but we could be selling energy to other jurisdictions. In the past year two major energy companies have withdrawn from the Irish market citing issues with our policy and legislation framework. What is the Government doing to address these issues? There is a strong case for greater public ownership of the wind sector which would secure our energy sovereignty and ensure the profits are for the Irish people not just for international shareholders.

We are up to the point now where we are producing about 40% of all of our electricity from renewables. Not that long ago it was only a few percent. We are now up to 40% and we intend to get to 80% by 2030. That is hugely ambitious and something that we can achieve. We will do it through the ESB and other State companies and also through the private sector. Having both the State and the private sector doing it means that we can get more done in the round.

We are in an absolutely dire state with homelessness and evictions. We have record levels of people in emergency accommodation and a massive spike in people being evicted through no fault of their own because of the sale of properties by landlords. I note that even Fianna Fáil backbenchers, somewhat belatedly, are now calling for what we have been calling for some time, which is a ban on evictions at least on an emergency basis to stop more people going into homelessness. Will the Government implement such a ban? Will it embark on an aggressive proactive policy to use some of the windfall revenues now available to the State to buy properties? We should not merely tell local authorities where they can do it but tell them they must buy properties where people are threatened with eviction and homelessness.

Thankfully, evictions in this country are relatively uncommon. They need to be done through courts and judges look very favourably on very difficult situations in that regard. Notices to quit are a bit different but if somebody is given a notice to quit, they have rights and they are given a period of time before they have to leave the property they are in. The difficulty with a blanket ban on any evictions is that it just stores up the problem for when the ban is lifted. That is part of what we are experiencing now. I know some people have proposed a blanket ban over the winter period; what then happens in spring? It does not necessarily solve the problem; it just defers it and that makes it worse a little bit later.

Buy the houses.

The Deputy is right that part of the solution is buying some of these properties. He raised this issue with me in the Chamber not too long ago. I raised it with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and a circular now has issued to local authorities stating that if somebody is served with a notice to quit and there is a risk that they could be evicted into homelessness the local authority is now being encouraged to purchase the property from the landlord. We want to see that done in much greater numbers than is the case now.