Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. They are welcome to the committee.

Sustainable energy is something everybody should applaud and support. Wind energy is something everybody should applaud and support. Of course, we should reduce our use of fossil fuels. However, we are doing something wrong. We are not making the progress we should be making. Obstacles are not being overcome. We must analyse what the problems are. We must be up-front and straight about them. The role of the SEAI is to advise Government on renewable and sustainable energy options for the future. I do not know if it is a role of SEAI to work with Government to develop a vision and a strategy for Ireland in the future. Certainly, that is not there. There are books and documents which are called strategy documents but they do not set out strategies for renewable energy in Ireland. There is a list of targets, some with dates attached and some with benefits set out but no back up to support where those benefits will come from or how they are quantified.

The Minister has said that he will produce a Green Paper on energy, which should be the precursor to this strategy. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, members and the public need to be involved in that discussion. In the absence of a clear vision of the direction we want to take and community buy-in to the strategy, the impression is that energy companies are running rings around Government and that they are dictating the projects that will get the go ahead and where they will be located.

I do not want to politicise the issue in any way but even last night there was politicking with the discussion on legislation that we had put forward. It was misrepresented by one of the speakers that the Sinn Féin Party is opposed to the export of energy. We are not but we have asked Government to meet the needs of Irish people before exporting energy abroad. If we have surplus energy from non-renewable sources, we should try to get the best possible deal and export it. We are expected to believe, and I am not sure the SEAI has any impact on the issue - probably not - and the public is expected to believe that the midlands can effectively be an offshore wind farm for Britain, yet no one knows how much will be paid for it. The public is not stupid. Is it any wonder that a worthy project of promoting renewable energy is not enjoying public support when we expect the public to swallow that type of nonsense? Does it help the sale of sustainable energy in Ireland when one or more of those providing advice is a beneficiary of one of the major energy companies in the midlands? At what point does advice become lobbying in self-interest? This is what the public knows.

I take on board that there may be some information on costs in the public domain, but some economists are questioning the financial assumptions underlying wind energy development. If one removes EU and State subsidies for wind energy, exactly how much does it cost to generate energy from wind? I think the facts need to be laid out and the comparative figures, which should be independently verified, need to be presented to the public.

Will the witnesses outline their views on offshore oil and gas, the threat of hydraulic fracturing and the contribution renewable energy can make to reducing our need for energy generated by fossil fuels? I do not think we will eliminate their use but will reduce our dependence on them.

The issue of microgeneration was referred to briefly. I have met a number of people who have invested a good deal of their own money in what appear to be exciting microgeneration projects, but the show stopper has been the cost of the connection to the grid. One person wanted to convert chicken droppings to electricity to run chicken farms, which are high energy users, but he was quoted a figure in the order of €250,000 to connect to the grid, which meant he had to abandon the project. As a nation, we do not take microgeneration seriously at all.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland does a good job. Everybody should be behind developments in renewable energy technologies but we are doing something wrong. I am not saying the SEAI is doing something wrong but somebody is. We are not getting it right.