Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Electricity will play a much bigger part in all of our lives and energy efficiency and retrofitting are major issues. Dr. Motherway has stated 250,000 homes have already been retrofitted. From parliamentary questions I have asked the Minister and exchanges on the floor of the House, I believe we have reached a plateau because of a policy gap. The pay-as-you-save concept has not kicked in and much work must be done before it is introduced. This demonstrates that consistency in policy is absolutely essential to keep sustainable the segment of the market which is doing this work. People will not establish companies just to get a little work before it dries up and they have to start again.

I presume everybody agrees that policy should be consistent over a protracted period. There is a need to consider the future generation of energy. Does Dr. Motherway see us as a first mover? Recently we learned that funding for Wavebob, a project in which we had invested for many years, had been discontinued. Are we capable of being a first mover in terms of the level of investment required? Has there been any modelling of retrofitting? Is complete retrofitting feasible financially or is there a point at which it is exhausted?

The first generation of bio-fuels were not very successful. What species of crops should be grown for bio-fuels? Is the planting of food and other crops displaced by the growing of crops for use as bio-fuels? Is there a loss of the added value generated by food crops that can be processed and then exported?

The policy of energy efficiency is driven by an EU directive. On the issue of energy targets, should targets be included and to what extent do they deliver on policy?