Dr. Brian Motherway:

We have no formal relationship with any energy companies. To address another question, our only formal role in energy companies is that we manage, on behalf of the Government, the energy efficiency credit schemes. We have a formal relationship with the companies which sell energy at the retail end whereby they must register with us that they are meeting their energy efficiency targets. We have no formal relationship with the wind energy generation companies directly. We participate in debates and promote wind energy, although we do not promote any particular company. Part of our mission on behalf of the Government is to promote renewable energy of all kinds. We want to see that sector thrive in an appropriate way.

In the absence of Deputy O'Donovan I accept his invitation to visit the chicken litter company. I am aware of a number of companies and that is an interesting sector for Ireland. On Deputy Harrington's question about our relationship with the regulator, we share the same parent Department with the regulator. The regulator regulates the market whereas our job is promotion, facilitation, encouraging new markets, action and investment. We work closely with the regulator because innovation often has a regulatory component. We collaborate with the regulator on modelling, analysis and research. We are part of the same family in that sense.

I take the point on microgeneration. SEAI is in favour of microgeneration and has done analysis and published reports on both the technical opportunity for microgeneration and the economic case. There comes a point where it is a question of policy decisions as to how best to support it. As I said earlier, microgeneration brings benefits that larger scale generation does not bring, but sometimes at a financial cost, and that is a policy question for policy makers.