Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to disagree with Ms Behan, but the Department is operating in a vacuum. It will devise an agreed target with the European Commission and put an incentive scheme in place. We are dependent on commercial semi-State companies to buy into the scheme. Recently, the Government put in place a refit scheme for biomass, but Bord na Móna did not want to opt into it because there was a more lucrative scheme, the public service obligation, PSO. This at a time when the Government is trying to achieve renewable energy targets. The intransigent block in the middle of the road was not involved in the negotiations between the State and the Commission. Unless commercial semi-State companies are involved at an earlier stage and made to pony up to their obligation to deliver on behalf of the shareholder, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, and follow the Government's policy statements, we will not be able to achieve anything.