Dr Paul Dean

It's about your

mental well-being, it's your emotional well-being, it's your health.

If you're living in a cold home, not only are you paying a very high heating bill, but you're probably dealing with things like condensation, with mould, with health.

So we need to broaden the spectrum of the benefits when we're looking at things about heating, because it's not really about the bill at the end of the day, it's about the person in the house as well.

Yeah, and I think that's the way to look at it, David.

This isn't about quick wins.

It's not about low-hanging fruit.

It's not about no-brainers or game-changers.

It's about investing in our infrastructure that will endure long beyond our lifetime.

When you invest in a house in a retrofit, that house will last for 100 years plus.

And that's the way we need to look at those things.

Those benefits would endure long beyond this government.

and those investments need to be made to encourage those benefits.

Ireland compares very well.

You know, there's a word that we don't hear a lot when we talk about energy, but that word is compassion.

But the Irish system would be considered very compassionate

in terms of how grants are targeted, particularly towards those in lower incomes.

We have a good level of protection, David, as well, for people who aren't able to pay their electricity bills and pay their heating bills.

That's something that you don't see a lot in some other European member states.

So while it isn't always obvious, I suppose, in terms of what we have in Ireland, when you compare it to other countries, there is a good level of protection for those who are the most vulnerable.