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

As regards projects of common interest, I understand that all of these questions are with regard to security of supply, competitiveness of costs, streamlining operations and all that sort of stuff. Sometimes it seems to me that the focus is not on the consumers - the people who use the energy. It seems to me to be more about support for companies than protecting the right to an affordable supply for customers. Does the Minister think the debate needs to be adjusted? Is there any mechanism for member states to work with the EU in getting supports to develop the potential for energy independence?

I will focus again on costs from the consumers' perspective. Is there enough debate on such costs at Commission level? Is there more we could and should be doing about the matter?

Finally, I will comment on fracking. The perceived wisdom is that because there is fracking in the United States, the price of gas has fallen. However, that was largely accidental. What operates in the States is, I am afraid, a large Ponzi scheme. They have to drill more wells in order to recover the initial investment made.

A letter dated 19 March and signed by the Minister was included in the minutes of the meeting. Having read it, I am concerned that hydraulic fracturing was addressed as a normal option. Where I come from, fracking is not normal. He said that the State had invested a good bit of money in the EPA and was carrying out a study on the environmental and unquantified or other impacts of hydraulic fracturing. To my mind, that study should not be going on. It is a self-evident truth that the landscape in Fermanagh, Leitrim, Clare, Sligo and Donegal will be an industrial wasteland if we allow fracking to go ahead. We should be exploring every option other than hydraulic fracturing. Frankly, it is an outrageous abuse of taxpayers' money that we are getting the EPA to carry out the study.

It is the same as the Government considering whether the maternity services should be consultant-led in Sligo regional hospital. It is a question that should not be considered.