Whatever it's called, what is it, and where is it?

Roughly the western half of North Dakota has lignite, a soft coal, and that coal is then present through in 21 of the 53 counties in North Dakota.

And where it's present at the surface over winter, Millions of years, it's likely burned in many of these areas.

And when it burns, the heat from that burning lignite bakes the rocks above it.

And that is what forms clinker or

Or can we? Ed Murphy, geologist for the state of North Dakota, thinks maybe we

can.

The North Dakota Soil Conservation Committee tracks gravel and scoria pits in North Dakota.

And, and what's your view of the government's, uh, current supports for SMEs, and where are the biggest gaps here in County Wexford, please?

Um, i-in terms of the government support, l-look, there is no question about-- Uh, I mean, o-one thing about-- Energy is the biggest issue, i-it, just at the moment.

And the-- I, I think the Irish government, h- their, their tax take from y- a gallon of, of oil, whether it's diesel or petrol or whatever, the tax take is probably there, thereabout, the largest in Europe.

I think only Italy ha-has higher in terms of the tax take from a gallon of diesel or petrol or whatever.

Uh, there is no question, to me, that should be scrutinized, that the government can help take a little bit more off the cost of, um, energy.

Because e-energy, um, increases everything.

If that increases the cost of doing business, the cost of transport, getting goods to a supermarket, that adds everything to what you pay in the supermarket for your product, if it's going to cost more for businesses to get it there.

Online versus footfall, can I get your view on that, please? What can be done to encourage, uh, more footfall into Wexford's towns and villages and support the traditional retail and hospitality sectors? And how concerned are the chamber about online shopping and the change in consumer behavior affecting local retailers? I know you are encouraging all lo- small to medium enterprise to have a good online presence as well to protect them, but, uh, what needs to be done to get more footfall into our towns?