The question is: where is the just transition? The people out there do not feel it and do not see it. I do not know how many times I have used the term in here. We talk about Ireland being a wind superpower but that is all we are talking about. We will talk about the difficulties that arose when switching from developer-led to planning-led systems but the fact is that we have not been able to fundamentally make use of that one serious resource we have in the form of wind. I have not seen any adequate speed-up or streamlining of the system to improve this. We do this at a time when we have seen multiple reasons to do it on the basis of, obviously, improving the environment, even from an energy security point of view, the issues that have arisen in relation to the Russian war against Ukraine and the absolutely disastrous, illegal war being fought by the Americans at the behest of Israel against Iran. We do not even know long term where that will go. Obviously, it is very hard not to talk at this point in time about the fuel protests. That is accepting that we are not in a world where renewables can offer solutions that are necessary as regards vehicular transport from the point of view of farmers and hauliers at this point in time. We know, however, that we could separate out our reliance on fossil fuels from an energy production point of view. That, at least from the State's point of view, would be a real win but again when we talk about just transition, the Government, in its defence of carbon taxes, will talk about the retrofit scheme. As Deputy Ó Broin said, the problem with the retrofit scheme is that it has looked after those who can afford to pay the most, so we are probably looking at some of the best houses in least need of retrofitting getting the most money from this State. It did not go to the people who needed it most. Then, at times, we have people put under severe pressure, whether we are talking about the burning of turf or any other issues. We have not dealt with the absolute price gouging that has gone on from energy firms in relation to those who are hurting the most. I do not know how many times Deputy Pa Daly and others have been in here speaking about the need to deal with standing charges and about the CRU having greater powers to address any of these issues. That is before we get into the issues of flooding and the mitigations and protections we know about because of changed circumstances. Again, this Government has dithered and taken far too long. What we need to see are real movement and supports for people because none of this is good enough. Unfortunately, it is a continuity of failure.

Sentiment score: -0.02