Dr. Jan Geiss:

I thank the Chairman for his welcome and for giving our background. I shall explain further who we are and what is behind our story.

EUFORES stands for the European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources which is a network that promotes renewable energy and energy efficiency. It was founded by Members of the European Parliament and European Commission people in 1995. It has been the platform for renewable policies in Brussels. The key people in EUFORES are the presidents Claude Turmes, Fiona Hall and Anni Podimata, plus an extended board of members of the European Parliament from all of the political groups which promote renewables and efficiency in the European Parliament. They are the ones who compiled the renewables and efficiency directives and the EUFORES president has always acted as rapporteur. The directives are what the members of the committee must struggle with here regularly.
EUFORES is a network of Members of the European Parliament and of the EU 27 national parliaments. The idea is to give MEPs a platform, the information and a chance to exchange or improve their European and national policies in order to strengthen Europe's energy sector. EUFORES hosts many events in the European Parliament such as dinners and breakfasts with Mr. Günther H. Oettinger, European Commissioner for Energy, Ms Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, and others.

The main product of EUFORES is the interparliamentary meeting or gathering of members of European and national parliaments which takes place each year in another national parliamentary. The last one was held last November in Athens in the Greek Parliament. One can imagine how emotional that meeting was and we tried to find ways that renewables could create business in Greece, not just send money. It was a very interesting meeting. Last year we were in Stockholm. This year we will be in Dublin and we appreciate the help of the committee. I wish to also thank Senator Cáit Keane for helping and preparing the EUFORES event. I also thank the Chairman and the committee for hosting us and for the great co-operation shown.

The conference will be a two-day event which is usually in a parliament. Obviously there was an added dimension to this Parliament and that is why the Taoiseach ensured that we got Dublin Castle as a location. My delegation was at Dublin Castle an hour ago to check the facilities. The interparliamentary conference will take place at Dublin Castle and we are happy with the location. It is perfect. A one-day renewables conference will take place on Friday, 21 June and the next day, Saturday, will be a half-day meeting on energy efficiency.

I shall outline who will attend. It is a closed meeting of members of parliament plus some invited guests. We expect around 70 members of parliaments from all over Europe. On average 20 member states are represented, plus some invited experts. As I said, attendees will be from the European Commission, a few government representatives and some experts from industry associations and scientific institutes. The idea is to create an atmosphere of a closed and confidential meeting where members of parliament can discuss and exchange ideas and get some input from the experts. The meeting will be a pan-European event so there will be members of parliament from all of the countries in attendance.

We always focus on the specific issues of an area. We are in the north-western part of the EU and Ireland runs an incredible process comprising offshore and onshore wind and ocean energy availing of great interconnections. Ireland is about to connect to the UK and to create an interlink which has never been seen before in Europe. EUFORES wants, with Ireland's help, to teach other members of parliament from around Europe that such things can happen and not in 40 years' time. We want to convey that it is not a crazy vision of a future technology but what can happen now. Policy is about what is signed and decided in parliaments now. We are very happy to place a special focus on these topics and there will be a detailed programme for the event. Of course general topics are discussed with the European Commission such as the latest news on the renewable energy directive. We will discuss whether member states are on track, the tendencies at present and where we are going. During a time of crisis there are big questions. We shall discuss whether member states should slow down the development of renewables. It will be an interesting discussion on the first day.

On the second day we will discuss energy efficiency. We will focus mainly on the new energy efficiency directive which emanated from the circles of the members of parliament. We will take the opportunity to explain the contents of the directive and what will reach the national parliaments. We have also invited the European Commission to explain the details. The directive is complicated and the devil is in the detail so the European Commission should take to the stage to give answers.

The two-day conference will lead to intensive networking. If everything goes well then there will be even more intensive networking between the parliaments. The Irish Government already works closely with the House of Commons and a specific group has been established to discuss the interlinking of activities, future markets, exchange and so on. If the conference broadens and supports a debate that includes all of the countries located near the northern seas, such as Germany, Denmark and Norway, and improves the future of Europe then we will have done a good job. That is the idea behind the conference. We usually have intense negotiations with lots of speeches. There is always room for discussions in order that members of parliament can join forces, build relationships and have a nice chat over a coffee or good wine.

We have tried to make the events accompanying the conference sexy in order to encourage more members of parliament to travel to Dublin. On Friday evening we will host a large gala dinner in the Irish Parliament with the permission of the Government. On Saturday there will be a site trip where everyone will be transported by bus. We are arranging a nice tour with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland that will show something new and interesting. Our first stop will be EirGrid because we want attendees to see how Ireland has balanced out the use of wind energy. People all over Europe think that it is not possible to balance wind energy but Ireland has done so without causing blackouts. We are very curious to see how that is done. We are also interested in energy efficiency measures.

We had thought as well to even go down to Wicklow to see the offshore wind parks and then take them to Glendalough but it is too far away and we have to be a bit more realistic in the planning. Whichever route we take and whatever we show them, we also want them to see some green Irish hills because we also want them to leave with an image of the countryside in their heads and we will all end up on Saturday evening in Johnny Fox's to give them a real impression of Ireland. That is the idea of the conference. People will arrive on Thursday afternoon, having left their parliaments all over Europe to travel to Dublin, and then the event will take place in Dublin Castle.