Dr. Brian Motherway:

I thank Deputy Colreavy for those major points. As he said, the Minister will publish a Green Paper on energy shortly. It is time for a renewal of the policy. I think it is very important that there be wide engagement as energy is a much more relevant topic than the last time a White Paper was published back in 2007. Much has changed. It is important we have a very detailed and wide debate around the issues.

The Deputy is correct about the public concern about projects where there is uncertainty, such as the midlands export projects. It seems there is a big question mark as to whether the projects will go ahead in the short term given the lack of an intergovernmental agreement. We will know soon enough whether it is likely to happen. If something does not move quickly, the projects will not be ready to deliver for 2020, which is the timeframe the directive envisages. It is difficult to see where they are going. People are right to question the benefits and financial gain from other projects. That was the debate in the intergovernmental agreement. I certainly heard the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, say he would not allow the projects to proceed without two conditions, first, that the financial benefit to Ireland is clear and significant and, second, that it is done right in terms of the engagement of the local community. I think some people, through no fault of their own, ended up hearing or believing these projects in the midlands were steaming ahead, were ready to be built tomorrow and these giant turbines were about to be erected all around them, whereas in fact that was not the case and is still not the case. Even if an intergovernmental agreement is rescued-----