With the permission of the House the next question, which is in the name of Deputy Barry Ward, will be taken by Deputy Kyne.

Sentiment score: 0.00

The next available question is Question No. 18 in the name of Deputy Michael Murphy.

Sentiment score: -0.15

There are no more Members in the Chamber to put their questions. I might put my Question No. 46 if Deputy Murphy will take the Chair. The Deputy is agreeable.

Sentiment score: -0.04

46. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the measures being taken to address the high cost of energy for households and small businesses, particularly in rural areas; if he will consider further targeted supports in the upcoming budget; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42815/26]

Sentiment score: 0.23

What measures are being taken to address the crisis of high energy costs for householders and small businesses, particularly in rural areas? Will further targeted supports be considered in the upcoming budget?

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I concur with the Minister on the uptake of the grants, particularly the windows and doors grant. There has been a significant uptake in that grant. Certainly, through our own constituency offices, we can see there is great interest in it. I commend the Minister, his Department and all the team on making that available. Having the smaller grants available is hugely important for people who can afford them and can do retrofits in pieces and patches. That opportunity allows people to invest in their own homes as best as possible. I also concur with the previous speaker, Deputy Murphy, as regards the warmer homes scheme and community energy scheme on how we can work with the SEAI to ensure more people can access those grants as quickly as possible. There is great appetite out there for more work in this space. I hope, along with budget 2027 and further budgets, we can continue the good work that has been done to date.

Sentiment score: 0.63

The Minister mentioned in previous contributions this morning the national energy affordability task force. Having that come out in quarter 3 of this year will be very important, particularly the four points addressed as part of that. These are the price of energy, sustainability in demand, enhancement of flexibility and addressing energy poverty for the consumer and customer protections. That is hugely important because we have a lot of people who are currently in arrears. How we can target that energy poverty measures to those customers will be hugely important. Likewise, with energy affordability for businesses the Minister just mentioned, if we can keep going along that process for the next 12 months, we can also certainly do a significant amount of work and see significant benefits from that.

Sentiment score: 0.30