Mr. Gerry Britchfield:

I will start with Deputy Penrose's question about wind energy. The backdrop to the question is that the Government has identified an opportunity to export wind energy and has signed a memorandum of understanding with the UK Government on developing an export opportunity of at least 2 GW, most of which will be located in the midlands. We have endeavoured to position ourselves in a way that ensures the State will benefit from that opportunity via the lands that we own. We have an option agreement with one developer in the midlands, Element Power, which is seeking to develop a number of sites as part of this export opportunity. We are also working closely with Bord na Móna in respect of 4,000 ha we have leased from the company. Bord na Móna also has significant ambitions in terms of being part of the wind export solution. We are discussing the potential for working together to develop these opportunities.

On the question of whether we are putting the cart before the horse by entering into the option agreement before the guidelines are specified, our option agreement with Element Power clearly states that the latter has to meet certain performance parameters. The company will have to go through the process of applying for planning permission under whatever guidelines are in place. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources is currently finalising how this will be progressed and his Department will be issuing guidelines on how it wants the project to develop. Element Power will have to comply with that process. It will have to go through the normal planning process and if it cannot get planning permission because the planning authority deems its application to be unsuitable, the option agreement will fall over. There is no longevity in it. The company has to deliver in the context of the rules set by the Government. Our objective is to ensure the lands we hold are part of the solution that the Government wants to implement in regard to this export opportunity.

In regard to whether we have made proposals to retain the current guidelines for wind energy plants, we have made a submission as part of the normal consultation process. We advocated that the current guidelines, which were published in 2006, are sufficient in taking account of the relevant planning parameters. However, it is for the Government to determine the planning guidelines it wants to put in place and we will have to comply with them.

In terms of increasing the levels of planting, we are keen to plant trees. That is the core of what we do. We are mainly focused on reforestation because our inability to compete for land means we are effectively locked out of the afforestation market. We are not entitled to the forest premia which farmers have earned since 1996, with the result that we cannot compete in the agricultural land market in the way we did in the 1990s. The economics do not make sense for us to buy land at agricultural prices. We cannot make it work commercially to plant land in the absence of the premia.