Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. I would agree with most of my colleagues that the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland does a good job and has progressed considerably in the past few years. I note Meath has benefited in four different areas from its projects last year. Possibly, a lot that is good is not seen due to the negative talk at present, in particular, on wind turbines.

Much ground has been covered by the other members. On getting the message out, Dr. Motherway stated SEAI held a show last year and targeted businesses and it has different projects going on. In the case of Joe and Mary living in their house on their own, he states some still do not know the kind of schemes SEAI has. How is SEAI disseminating the message of what the individual home owner can avail of? Is it through the local authorities? He stated SEAI does a lot of work with them anyway. How can SEAI build on that, as he stated? The figures for Meath look quite low even compared to those for the rest of the counties.

An issue that has been touched on here is the bills. Consumers relate to their bill and whether it will go up or down. We see that with the pylons where it is a significant issue, for example, in cost-benefit analysis. How is SEAI communicating to consumers? Earlier Dr. Motherway explained about the energy bills, that there are a lot of figures being thrown out about levies, these getting higher and the cost of renewable energy being subsidised by this. This is also a matter of communication. How is SEAI getting across to consumers that renewable energy is costing less? I have sat in committee meetings or briefings where it was said it is costing more to use wind energy than any other type of energy. It is a matter of communication.

On offshore and tidal energy, Dr. Motherway stated SEAI is working on it. Are we talking ten or 15 years, or how close exactly are we with that?

I will touch again on wind energy because it is a significant issue, especially in Meath. I note they are talking about an export project, but much of the work SEAI does with communities is being compromised by the lack of communication on the ground by some of these companies with which SEAI may not have any connection. How is SEAI dealing with that because that is the biggest obstacle in moving forward? I am in favour of renewable energy, I am in favour of wind energy but there are notices going round stating there will be 250 turbines in our area, and it scares residents and they run away from it. How is SEAI tackling that?