"For those Studio Apartments on reclaimed land off Fairview in Dublin, you suggested a price of EUR 150,000. How did you come up with that price? Wouldn't the construction of those apartments be subject anyway to the same constraints as the Government's own Housing For All plan, namely, Planning delays, lack of Manpower, Infrastructure delays, etc."?

"We need to reduce emissions from Transport but sales of new electric car sales have dropped, so where do we stand now?", asks one concerned voter. Yes, in 2024, new electric car sales fell from the 22,852 registrations seen in 2023 to 17,459 cars in 2024, a 23.6% decrease.

"If Slaintecare were fully implemented in the next five years, would all our healthcare woes be over?", reads one email. Let me start by quoting a distinguished former leader of Fine Gael who most would agree has "done the state some service", namely Alan Dukes. He said recently in an interview that "Slaintecare was always a utopian project".

"We should use Direct Air Capture techniques to remove all carbon dioxide from the athmosphere and solve the climate crisis", proposes one correspondent. That would not be a good idea.

"Let's just accelerate the decarbonisation of the electricity grid by replacing our fossil powered generating stations with some nuclear powered ones", says one critic. Maybe not.

There are some league tables you want to be near the top of. For example, if you are a GAA fan, you want to see your county team near the top of the Allianz League Division 1. Similarly, if a soccer fan, seeing the team you support near the top of the Premier League is desirable. Ditto for rugby and other sports.

"I have a relative languishing on a hospital waiting list for hip surgery", says one voter. "I'm pleased to see you stress the importance of speeding up delivery of the Elective Hospitals, but how long will that take and how much will they cost?"

"I think your Housing plans are brillant", writes one person but adds that studio apartments won't suit him; he needs something bigger for his family. "Do you have any other ideas that might help people in my situation"?

One correspondent expresses surprise at my opinion that the transition to net zero worldwide could take as long as 100 years (See Blog No 11). To see why I believe that to be true, consider everything we have in this world, and I mean everything:

"Where do you stand on the construction of a liquified natural gas (LNG) storage facility in Ireland ?", asks one questioner. The first thing to check is how secure our current gas arrangements are and what would happen if our gas supply was interrupted.

Would I support a Rent freeze, someone asks? I would certainly like to see rents stabilise but I am worried whether or not a rent freeze would work right now. Maybe we can achieve the same effect in another way.

Some people want to see Ireland plant more trees and produce less food because trees help to mitigate climate change and agriculture has more to do to reduce emissions. I hope we can plant trees and produce the food.

I like your affordable housing proposals says one correspondent, but you'll never get planning permission for that. All those whose views of the sea are impacted plus the usual NIMBY brigade, he suggests, will band together and try to put a stop to it so you better have a Plan B ready.

Met one NUI graduate at a gathering over the last few days who has been working in Hong Kong for the last five years and was just back with his Hong Kong native wife. He said he was very impressed with my Housing proposals especially going outside the box to use reclaimed land.

"Explain what you mean by Energy Storage and why you think it is a key enabler for increasing levels of Net Zero Energy on the Grid".

"Can you elaborate on your claim that net zero energy is currently being wasted", asks one voter?

Climate change is the existential issue of our time. The signs are not encouraging.

I’ve been receiving emails asking me for my position on the “hot button” issues facing society, from transgenderism, through assisted suicide, conscientious objection, to hate speech legislation and abortion.

Misinformation is false or inaccurate information- getting the facts wrong. Disinformation is false information which is deliberately intended to mislead - intentionally misstating the facts.

There are just over 120 Data centres in Ireland currently connected to the Electricity Grid and they use around 21% of all electricity generated. By comparison, residential customers use 28%.