2026-04-15

Unusually, we are somewhat over time and there will be no red clocks during Leaders' Questions. If Members have not prepared within their time, that is their problem. I call Deputy McDonald to begin.

Go raibh maith agat. The Government may have survived the confidence motion yesterday but the Taoiseach should be under no illusion. The Government has lost the confidence of the people because of its arrogance, because it does not understand their lives and because it refuses to listen. Yesterday, even as one of its Ministers of State walked away, the Government still would not listen and indeed we got hours of backslapping and self-congratulation. However, self-praise is no praise. This is a Government that makes things harder for people. There are increased school transport fees, exam fees are back for the leaving and junior certificates and there are eye-watering rents. Why have Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors hiked up rents for Dublin City Council tenants? Some people have seen their rents double. These are families stretched to the limit. They are workers, carers and pensioners. They are hit hard by the cost of fuel, gas, electricity and food but Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors decided to squeeze them even more. The Taoiseach might not know this but us Dubs are very house-proud and none of us more so than those from my home neighbourhood of Cabra and those from the inner-city communities I am proud to represent, especially people who live in complexes of flats. These are the finest of people. They go out to work every day, they look after their children and their neighbours' children, they hold their communities together and they do everything to keep the show on the road. Many of them are out the door to work from 5.30 a.m. They are very resilient people because their communities have faced real hardship. Government after government - Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael - have left them behind. They pay their rent but they are left to live in conditions that frankly you would not believe exist in the year 2026.

I am sorry to tell those in the Gallery that applause is not allowed.

There is damp, mould, broken windows and doors and crumbling walls. Entire blocks of flats in this city are riddled with dampness. If the Taoiseach went to places like Sheriff Street, Seville Place, Ballybough or East Wall, or the flat complexes of Clarion Quay, Chancery House, Island Quay and Longboat Quay, he would find that out for himself. Families are crying out for very basic and long overdue maintenance but they now believe they might be fighting a losing battle because the Government does not listen. People are fobbed off again and again and this has been going on for decades. Dublin City Council is not meeting its responsibilities and that is a fact. Central Government is not funding Dublin City Council to provide a decent, acceptable standard of housing and that is a fact too.

Hear, hear.

To add insult to injury, along come the Government's councillors to hit people with rent hikes. Now that takes a brass neck, arrogance and disrespect. I want the Government to know that people are not taking this lying down. It is not just the hauliers and the farmers who are standing up. These families and communities are standing up too and they are demanding these rent hikes be scrapped. They are demanding maintenance for their homes. They are demanding respect.

Thank you, Deputy. The Taoiseach to respond.

Why does the Government treat decent people in this way?

Hear, hear.

The Deputy's time is up. The Taoiseach to respond. While I welcome everybody in the Gallery, there are rules to be complied with and if they continue to interrupt, I will have to ask for the Gallery to be cleared. I am sorry. The Taoiseach to speak.

The Government won a confidence vote in Dáil Éireann yesterday by a substantial 14-vote majority.

You lost the people.

That is the reality, despite the Deputy's description of what transpired yesterday. The truth is that I am extremely disturbed that Deputy McDonald has not yet, as the main Opposition leader in this House, had the courage of her convictions or the decency to separate what is right from what is wrong. Yesterday, one of her Deputies could not condemn threats or intimidation against An Garda Síochána. On a programme last night, Deputy Kerrane was asked a straight question-----

-----"Do you condemn the threats and the intimidation of gardaí?"-----

That is a question for you.

-----and the Deputy said, "I do not condemn the protesters."

That sort of question is for you, Taoiseach.

On what happened, I fully respect the right of people to protest, even the people in the Gallery in terms of the Dublin City Council situation in regard to rent. People are entitled to protest. In my view, you seem incapable of saying it is wrong to blockade our only oil refinery. You cannot say that is wrong, even though it would have led to a scarcity of oil supply and an increased fuel crisis. You cannot say that it is wrong to blockade ports, even though it would destroy our economy.

You are avoiding the question, now.

You cannot say it is wrong to intimidate bus drivers. You do not have the courage. You are weak as a political party. Absolutely.

Oh, that is nasty.

That is not true.

Nasty Taoiseach.

You could not do it. You tried to jump on board. That is the sad-----

I did not interrupt you, Deputy. I would appreciate-----

I have a few things to say .

What about the flats, Taoiseach?

I fully respect the rights of people to protest.

They do not like the truth.

What about the flats? There is one minute to go.

I fully respect the right of people to protest-----

Deputies. Exactly, what about-----

I fully respect the right of people to protest but surely it is possible in this House for us to get agreement on basic rights and wrongs in terms of what should and should not happen.

That is something you have not been prepared to do. I regularly engage with people in terms of protest. I am not a member of Dublin City Council. We have a system of local government in this country and there is a differential rent system. It is a critical piece of the State's system of local government which, as you know, is far better than the private rental sector or anything near it. It is subsidised housing costs and supports households. I believe Dublin City Council should do far more in terms of regeneration. We have funded local authorities up and down the country in terms of regeneration and they should do more-----

The Government underfunds them.

-----in terms of refurbishing flat complexes, in particular, which I have been in in recent years and which I accept are not acceptable. A lot of capital money has been allocated to Dublin City Council and, essentially, there is a huge issue of housing maintenance. The city council obviously has a revised rent structure now. It is a matter for Dublin City Council, the executive and the council itself to explain and defend that. We do not run the councils.

But the Government underfunds them.

Let us not pretend we do. I know the by-election is coming and I accept that but we do not run councils from Dáil Éireann and it is disingenuous and dishonest of the Deputy to say-----

Deputy McDonald to respond.

-----that I could not care less. We have eight councillors in Dublin City Council out of 60. The Deputy is in attack mode. That is what she does generally speaking.

Thank you, Taoiseach. Your time is up.

I condemn all forms of intimidation. Anybody who has known me in any part of my life knows that while I may lack many things, I do not lack courage. I do not lack courage.

What about this specific one?

Let me tell the Taoiseach this. He has shown us again exactly who he is. I have asked him to address the lived reality of people from Cabra, Sheriff Street, Seville Place and East Wall. I have named all of the neighbourhoods and told the Taoiseach about the conditions people are living in. They are like something from Strumpet City . I could not describe to the Taoiseach how bad the living conditions are. There are families, women and men, who week after week and month after month paint over mould, scrub mould off their walls and who panic because their children have asthma or other medical conditions because they live in conditions that are not acceptable. Does the Taoiseach know that it is the norm in the inner city not even to have room to have a kitchen table?

The Taoiseach to respond.

That is what the Taoiseach has presided over.

Deputy McDonald. The Taoiseach, please-----

The Taoiseach is now trying to gouge these people for more rent.

Deputy McDonald, your time is up and I have said we will have no red clocks today.

I want the Taoiseach to tell them those rent hikes will be cancelled.

Hear, hear.

The Taoiseach.

Dublin City Council is responsible for housing policy. Government funds local authorities the length and breadth of the country.

Obviously not enough.

You underfund them.

Sorry, it funds them very substantially, and funding has increased-----

Allow the response.

It was obviously not enough.

Funding to local authorities has increased very significantly over the past five to six years.

No.

It has not.

It was obviously not enough.

There is no question about that. Also, the number of social houses we are building that are of a very high quality is the highest since the 1970s. There were close to 12,000 social houses delivered last year.

You did nothing for decades.

There is the highest number of direct builds ever built in our country - 8,500. There is a lot of work going on in social housing. I am not specifically responsible for what transpires in Dublin City Council and it is a matter for the council. Again, I have to go into the details of what is proposed. I do not have the details of the specific differential rent scheme the council is introducing.

Thank you, Taoiseach. Deputy Ivana Bacik

Go raibh maith agat.

On a point of order.

Deputy Ivana Bacik. I am sorry this is Leaders' Questions, so resume your seat Deputy Kerrane.

Resume your seat, Deputy. You cannot play to the Gallery. I will have the Member-----

I have never heckled. Sorry, I have never heckled.

That is not fair.

Resume your seat.

Resume your seat.

I will not-----

Resume your seat, Deputy, please.

Never have I-----

If you want me to suspend, we will waste further time. I call Deputy Ivana Bacik.

The Government has been weakened and damaged over its inadequate response to the energy crisis and fuel protests, with further challenges to come. The Government has now lost a Minister of State, and a backbencher - two Healy-Raes for the price of one, and a high price indeed. The Government won the vote last night but the pressure for hard working families and households in this cost-of-living crisis has not gone away. For hundreds of thousands of PAYE workers, struggling to pay soaring bills, where is their support package? For those who turned up at the office, the shop or the factory or who logged on at home for work this morning, what message has the Taoiseach for them? The budget last October delivered no relief for working people. Energy credits and one-off payments were withdrawn. The Government gave tax breaks to developers and fast-food chains – tax breaks paid for by workers. The Government could instead have taken the progressive step of indexing income taxes, as the Labour Party sought, but it did not. At the behest of business interests, the Government delayed the living wage and an increase in statutory sick pay while voting down our Labour Party Bill to give workers a real right to remote work. There is real suffering across our communities. Households are facing rising bills. Grocery prices, already increasing, are set to soar further as food security is impacted by global shocks. There are rising rents and mortgages, and electricity and gas bills that families are struggling to pay. All of us are hearing this, that people simply do not know how they are going to manage. The only relief the Government has given is a few cent off petrol and diesel. Over two emergency packages now, we have seen special supports for those that shouted loudest but nothing to relieve the real pressure on PAYE workers and families. They are left with no option now but to seek pay rises in the months ahead. We will support the trade unions in that endeavour because more support is needed. In recent days, I have spoken to parents in Galway and Dublin desperate to see their children stay here rather than emigrate. I have spoken to young adults who see no future for themselves here. What help can the Taoiseach offer them? What is he going to do for the 320,000 households in arrears on their electricity bills, the highest number ever, or the 180,000 in arrears on gas bills? Yesterday, an ESRI report confirmed that Ireland has the highest energy prices in Europe. Yes, they were relieved in recent years by VAT reductions and energy credits but that took us down to eighth highest, and those credits are now gone. We know there are no easy answers to the global energy shock but the Taoiseach must heed the advice of the IEA. We need radical action now to harness more renewables, bring down energy costs, tackle climate emissions and ensure fuel security. Will the Government publish a national fuel security plan? Will it promise PAYE workers it will bring forward targeted supports for them and help the desperate households now in arrears on energy bills?

I fully accept people are under enormous pressures, in particular because of the war in the Middle East. People have had to endure a range of shocks going back to Covid and right through the war in Ukraine which had a severe impact on oil and energy prices and fed into general significant inflation in those years. Then we hit the tariffs a year ago, which is having an impact on a number of our companies, and now there is a war in the Middle East which has had a severe impact on oil prices again and is feeding into inflation. There is no question that people and families are under huge pressure. The ESRI also said successive Government measures shielded people substantially but could not cover everything. I would say no Government in the European Union has provided as many cost-of-living supports over the past five years as this Government.

You got rid of them.

That is the reality but it still does not mean that people are not under pressure. We introduced some fairly radical schemes that would not have been thought possible five years ago, like free book schemes for every child going to school and free hot school meals. Across the board, we have brought in measures such as extending free GP care and many other measures in health in particular and in transport to try to ease the pressure on people in a systemic way. I would welcome a conversation because I think the Deputy has a responsible approach to politics although I thought last week she was noticeable by her silence.

We came out on Wednesday morning.

The reason being-----

Allow the answer.

I understand why and I think we need a discussion about it in this House. There is a lot of what went on that the Deputy would not have agreed with, if she is honest. That was evident in the voting pattern last evening. I think the Deputy got a glimpse of what sidling up to Sinn Féin can mean for her party and the damage it can do to it in the time ahead. I would welcome a debate in terms of priorities or a discussion and engagement on priorities. The Deputy's party opted not to go into government; that is fair enough. That was her decision and she opted not to go into government because she was afraid of the people alongside her. We are in government-----

You wanted Michael Lowry. The Healy-Raes just left you.

You did not look to go into government; you went on holiday.

You have had your turn.

We are in government. I will accept any constructive proposal on the cost of living, a sustainable way in terms of climate and also energy security. Thankfully, we have national oil reserves. Last week, we had a round-table meeting with those involved in NORA and in energy security. I can share that with the Deputy if she wishes.

With respect, the Taoiseach has got to stop rewriting history about Government formation. As he well knows, he had done the deal with the Lowry gang and the Healy-Raes before-----

-----the engagement with us.

That is not true.

You were last in line.

Indeed, that deal is now unravelling, as we saw with the departure of half a Healy-Rae.

The Deputy deserves to be heard.

Also, the Taoiseach has to stop rewriting history about last week. The Labour Party in my name issued a statement last Wednesday morning calling on the Government then to engage with the representative organisations. It took the Government until Friday afternoon to do that. We also called for the lifting of the blockades on Wednesday morning. We had a very clear position and I will not accept the Taoiseach's claim on that. On the ESRI report, yes, it acknowledged Government supports had helped, but those supports are gone. The ESRI also pointed out that Ireland has such high energy prices because we have never diversified sufficiently into renewables where other counties have.

Thank you, Deputy. The Taoiseach to respond.

What is the Taoiseach going to do------

That is it Deputy, your time is up.

-----to ensure radical action on climate and renewables that we need for energy security?

The Taoiseach to respond, now.

We are going to diversity more into renewables. We have diversified substantially into renewables in this country. Over 40% of electricity generation now is onshore wind generation. We have had two successful auctions for offshore wind. I actually agree that the only way to avoid these types of global shocks is by having more renewables as they contribute to the grid. There is no other way. If one looks at all the shocks from the 1970s onwards, they were shocks because of wars or fossil fuel shocks. They have dislocated economies and caused pressures on families and jobs. We know that from various recessions we have had to encounter in previous decades. Therefore, it makes logical sense that we would invest in the resources we have. As the Deputy knows, we had auctions for offshore wind, which is a significant opportunity. I set up a clearing house from my Department to try to remove barriers and obstacles to the development of offshore wind because-----

Thank you, Taoiseach. I call Deputy Cairns.

-----I think it is essential------

Taoiseach, thank you. The clock is in red.

-----to decrease our dependence on imported fossil fuels.

This Government was totally unprepared for the protests that swept the country last week, but how? After all, this did not erupt spontaneously overnight. The signs were there. They were not even subtle. There is a lack of empathy at play. I know the Taoiseach will take great exception to the fact that I am saying this. He will claim we do not have a monopoly on empathy or compassion but I ask him to reflect on what happened last week and his Government's reaction to it. There was, unquestionably, a deficit of empathy and a lack of foresight. What transpired what foreseeable, predictable and avoidable. The fact that the Taoiseach did not foresee, predict or avoid it calls into question his competence. The Government talks about the cost-of-living crisis as if it suddenly emerged six weeks ago when Trump invaded Iran. There seems to be no understanding of the level of stress and worry people have endured for years. Week after week, we come in here and highlight the need for an emergency payment for disabled people, for investment in renewable energy and for targeted supports to the people struggling the most because the cost of simply existing in this country is growing and growing and it is crushing people. There is no let up, no relief and little to no help from Government. That is why people were on the streets last week. Everybody understands that the Government does not control international oil prices but these fuel price shocks were a tipping point for so many people. The package of measures the Government brought forward will be of very little comfort to many of them. Incredibly, it does nothing to bring down the cost of home heating oil. Some 700,000 households are reliant on home heating oil. The cost has soared by 70% in just a month and nothing has been done to bring that cost down. The Taoiseach constantly says we have no solutions but the Social Democrats has been consistently asking him to introduce targeted supports to those who need them the most. Today, we gave the Government another opportunity on our proposals. The Dáil debated a Social Democrats motion this morning which proposed a targeted €400 energy credit for low and middle income earners, the creation of a supplementary mileage scheme for essential workers and a doubling of solar grants to help people reduce their energy costs by hundreds of euro per year. The Government is voting against those proposals, refusing to listen and refusing to act.

Thank you, Deputy. The Taoiseach to respond.

Why will the Taoiseach not introduce targeted supports for people who need the most?

The Government, before any blockade, was in discussions with the Irish Road Haulage Association, the IFA and farm contractors. In fact, we had introduced a €250 million package three or four weeks ago in the House. As I said earlier, we have been introducing cost-of-living packages on an ongoing basis. The budget had some significant measures, including the DEIS plus scheme, for example, to help low-income families in particular, the fuel allowance and so on. Everybody accepts that people are under enormous pressure - everybody in the House does - because of global crises. The war in particular has exacerbated matters and prices have shot up. That has really caused concern. I do not think the Social Democrats predicted what happened last week. They said very little last week at all, which is fair enough. They said nothing.

Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl did, apparently.

Last Sunday was Deputy Cairns's first speech, and that is fine. I am just making the point. I accept fully the point on more investment in solar. We have invested a lot in solar, and we will do more. There is a €750 million package on top of the budget. We have a further winter to go. We do not know where the war is going to go, what the trajectory will be or what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz. There are two dimensions to this. One is supply, which is critical. That is why I could not understand the blockade of an oil refinery and why we could not get consensus. That makes no sense, because it leads to a scarcity of fuel and to more prices going up. Surely we can all agree that this is not the correct way to protest because you damage jobs and the economy. That is a reasonable point to make, and I should not be condemned for making it. I am not condemning anyone other than saying protest absolutely. It is important we have protest. It is important that we have people advocating and agitating for change in society. I believe passionately in that, but I also believe in human rights for people. I received an email earlier in terms of people belonging to a particular group who said they had to leave the protest at Whitegate because they could not believe what happened. A lot went on that no one here is prepared to call out. I refer to lorry drivers being intimidated, a GAA club being targeted online because buses were parking there and the bus company involved being targeted and intimidated. These are elements. The vast majority of those involved are reasonable, decent people who, correctly, were highlighting and identifying fuel protests, but it is disturbing. I accept fully that the Opposition wants the Government to get a kicking. I do not expect the Deputy to defend the Government. That is accepted. However, it is disturbing that she does not have the courage of her convictions in calling out that. There is an element of people out there - not even in politics but in communities - who are afraid to say that and who feel intimidated to articulate it. That is, unfortunately, where we are.

It is undoubtedly welcome that the Government engaged with the hauliers and farmers. That was obviously desperately needed. What is unbelievable is that the Government still does not seem to be listening or engaging with people who are struggling. I asked about home heating oil. There are 700,000 households reliant on home heating oil, the price of which has gone up 70% in the space of a month. I asked about disabled people who are out protesting because they simply could not afford to live before any of this happened. I asked about single parents and ordinary families who are so hard-pressed, but all the Taoiseach does is come back and try to attack the Social Democrats. He talks about investment in solar. It is unbelievable that the Government is not focusing on investment in solar. Never before has it been so exposed how vulnerable we are because we are so reliant on fossil fuels. The Government's investment in solar predominantly benefits data centres as opposed to ordinary people. There are 1 million homes eligible for solar. Only 10% have it. They are the households that can afford to meet the impact of price shocks. We are asking the Government to extend grants to people who need to be protected from price shocks.

I welcome constructive proposals in respect of solar. We are investing in solar. Solar is doing very well and is growing very fast as a contributor to energy.

For people who can afford it.

There is very strong potential in solar. We are supporting ordinary people in terms of the installation of solar panels on their roofs. We created a retrofitting industry in the past five years in this country through successive investments and commitments, and that remains. On the cost of disability, the Minister, Deputy Calleary, is working in consultation with stakeholder groups, to have, once and for all, a proper programme and provision in respect of a cost-of-disability payment. It is not simple, and it is better that we do it systemically and embed it in the budgets of the future. That is what we are committed to doing; just as we significantly increased the thresholds around the carer's allowance, which was a substantial measure in the budget, and just as we put an extra €500 million into disability to improve services for people with disabilities.

Last week, the Taoiseach told Radio Teilifís Éireann that he was open to all forms of energy supply. He also acknowledged the fragility of Irish dependence on imported fuels. That admission is important - and it is important to the House - because Ireland imports approximately 86% of its energy, which is one of the highest dependence rates in Europe. At the same time, the Government made a deliberate decision in 2021 to ban oil and gas exploration. This was not a forced decision or an inevitable decision; it was a policy choice on the part of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party. Does the Taoiseach accept that the banning of domestic exploration, while remaining overwhelmingly dependent on energy imports, has left Ireland dangerously exposed? As he knows, this country is sitting on a potential offshore resource, including the Barryroe field off Cork, close to the Taoiseach's constituency and mine, which independent assessment suggests could contain up to 1.6 billion barrels of oil. This is probably €157 billion worth of oil. Can I put it to the Taoiseach that he is saying that all energy options are open while some are actively prohibited by law? In that context, will the Government reverse the 2021 ban on oil and gas exploration and allow Ireland to at least give access in order that it might develop its own resources? Will he commit to reviewing and repealing the legislation that prohibits nuclear energy, which was first introduced in this House in 1999 and the provisions of which were continued in the development Act of 2024? The State's position in this regard is not credible. Ireland bans nuclear-generated energy at home and, yet, through the Celtic interconnector, we import the nuclear energy directly from France. I put it to the Taoiseach that the latter is not climate leadership; it is a policy contradiction. Does the Taoiseach accept that Ireland's exposure to this crisis is not just global in origin but domestic in design? Norway operates in the same markets and the United Kingdom faces the same pressures, but they produce energy. We import it. They have options. We have none. This is about not abandoning renewable energies. I see the importance of the latter, but this is about realism. We know that renewable energy meets is a very small share of the total energy demand in this country. We have to face the reality that oil and gas are here for decades to come. Even if we speed up reducing our dependence and increasing the development of wind energy, wave energy and the rest, we will still have to use oil and gas for at least this generation if not the next. I have a simple question for the Taoiseach. Will Ireland produce some of its own energy or will we continue to import energy that comes at a market price?

Ireland will continue to produce its own energy, but it will be in renewables overwhelmingly. We have a very poor record in terms of oil and gas exploration over the decades. Kinsale gas was first brought onshore in the 1970s, and we have had Corrib. Barryroe never showed any prospects. Barryroe could have been exploited if it had the prospects which Deputy O'Flynn said it had decades before any legislative prohibition on oil and gas exploration. We are overly dependent on imported fossil fuels. I accept that. There needs to be a strong grid connection with Europe and the UK. The interconnection with France will be a significant milestone. I hope it will come on stream next year. I met the Spanish Prime Minister recently, and we agreed that we would explore a grid connection between Spain and Ireland. There is potentially strong European funding for greater interconnection and grid connection across Europe. That is a key strategy of the European Union. The reason our Anglo-Irish summits are so important is because we have a very strong economic relationship but we also have a strong energy relationship. We have the gas interconnectors with the United Kingdom. We are exploring with the UK further combined work in terms of offshore wind in particular and how we can complement supply chains in the context of the generation of energy through offshore wind. In terms of nuclear, again, the investment in nuclear is enormous. We are putting about €18 billion into the grid over the next five years' investment to both absorb additional demand and also to further integrate renewables into the grid expertly, which we do very well as a country. I see solar as a very significant growth area. Solar has grown exponentially over the last two to three years in terms of rooftops and so on, but a lot of companies are using solar, which is reducing their dependence on imported fossil fuels. In companies like Eli Lilly in Kinsale, for example, 25% of its energy is powered by a solar farm in the environments of the factory. There is rooftop solar in PepsiCo in Carrigaline. Many other companies are moving in that direction. I suggest the direction of travel has to be in the renewables area. I do believe in climate change. I know a lot of people do not; I do. It is interesting. I take the Deputy's point about nuclear-----

I thank the Taoiseach. Time is up now. Deputy O'Flynn to respond.

----- but the energy source that did most damage to the planet was actually fossil fuels.

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply but he is in contradiction with exactly what he said on RTÉ over one week ago when he said he was open to all forms of energy supply. I asked him quite clearly whether he is willing to look at the policy where the Government said in 1999 that we are going to ban nuclear. The Taoiseach has come to the House and told me. I assume he has read the independent analysis and independent report in Barryroe as well because I did not realise, along with the other expertise he has, that he has expertise in oil refinery and finding oil.

I did not advise the Deputy of that either.

I have invested enough of it. It is all very well to talk about renewable energy, and I do see the importance of renewable energy. I witnessed renewable energy when the grid in Spain took out Portugal, all of Spain and most of France just up to Paris, if the Taoiseach remembers that. That was an oversupply, and we never got to the end of that.

I thank the Deputy. The Taoiseach to respond.

There are, therefore, challenges when it comes to renewable energy.

There are challenges, yes. That is why we have to invest in storage as well. That is a technology that is developing fast as well. I was at a recent investment in the midlands in Offaly. I believe Offaly and Laois can become a real powerhouse for energy into the future with a lot of industrial development alongside of it. That investment was from a Korean company partnering with an Irish company in terms of storage. On the integration of renewables into the grid, we have a good record in that respect in this country. We need to keep striving to do more of that. There are other forms like anaerobic digestion. I put it to the Deputy, however, given his capacity for campaigning for any group that develops an opposition to something, if a nuclear facility was proposed for Cork North-Central, I am not so sure what side of the coin he would be on.

I would send it over to the southside.