Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Swords is aware the heads of the climate change Bill have been published, and the Government and some political parties are pushing for it to set targets. We all know the three main contributors to carbon emissions in this country are agriculture, transport and the energy sector. Given our economic dependence on agriculture and transport it would seem obvious the energy sector is the place to look to making the savings. Does Mr. Swords not agree with this? All political parties are pushing to set targets. I do not believe we should set targets. We should assess the situation. However I believe we do need to address it before it is too late. Mr. Swords believes we should not publish the legislation and that we need to do impact assessments beforehand.

With regard to energy security, Mr. Swords dismissed wind energy altogether in his statement. Does he not agree efficiencies are being made in power stations as we speak? I know the Great Island station in the south east is being converted from an oil station to a gas station and it is doubling its capacity. These measures are being taken but we need to do more than this. Wind energy can be part of the solution. I certainly would not state it can be the complete solution, but given the natural resources we have available to us does Mr. Swords agree wind energy can be part of the overall energy security solution?