Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We want to encourage micro generation. We also want to encourage the involvement of individuals and communities in improving the way we manage our energy and develop energy projects. The Deputy will agree with me that one of the advantages of micro generation and community energy projects is that people in local areas see energy, energy production, energy use and efficiency as something that is important for them rather than just something the State is imposing on them as a requirement.

This lack of understanding is the problem with our current debate and we are all - State agencies and Government - somewhat responsible for this. We have ended up in a situation where too many people feel victims of energy policy rather than participants in it with an opportunity to have an input into the policy and, perhaps, to produce energy-efficient themselves, whether on farms or in local communities. We will get far more engagement from local communities in the big challenge of energy if we provide for such projects as the Deputy has mentioned. I have discussed this in the Department and have pressed officials on the issue. A significant component of our thinking in the White Paper due this summer, following the Green Paper we had last year, concerns how we can engage local communities, not just in debate but in projects that have meaning for the community and with which they can work.

I met representatives from Energy Co-operatives Ireland last week and they are promoting and pressing this agenda. They made submissions to the Green Paper and want to engage with us. We must do that. We want to talk as much about the energy citizen and community as opposed to just having a Department policy that is imposed on people as if they are victims.