Mr. Mike Quinn:

I would not call them fears, I would call them concerns. I outlined one earlier, namely, while I endorse the carbon tax it has to be applied on a level playing field. I understand the reasons we cannot roll back on the carbon tax but it is putting Bord na Móna in a completely uncompetitive position. To pay 51% of the overall take for 30% market share is unsustainable. Something must be done on that to allow us at least compete on a level playing field.

With regard to other aspects that concern me, we have issues with the amount of time it takes to get through the planning process for some of the infrastructure. I came back from the United States to take up this role. It takes two and a half to three years to get through every step of the planning process, and some of these projects, particularly the wind projects, are very capital intensive to get to the consented planning stage. That is something we need to examine in the future. The more up-front community engagement we can do will help in that process, and some of the models that are very successful internationally may help with that.

That is the energy side of our business. On the other side, we have weather dependencies to consider.

One thing I have learned is that this is an issue that can make or break the business. I have not yet experienced the harvest, but we were meant to do 20% of our harvest in May. We did nothing, and only started on Sunday last week. I understand there was a very bad harvest in 2012 which created significant financial issues for the company. Going back to the renewable energy side, we need the wind to blow, which is another weather dependency. One of the first things I do every morning when I get up is check the weather forecast. That is a very important factor for our business but not one we can control.

If we are to become the number one renewable energy supplier, we must have a portfolio approach to renewable energy at Bord na Móna. There cannot be a dependency on wind, solar, anaerobic digestion, gasification or landfill gas. We want to be involved in every element of renewable energy in order that we do not get huge spikes in our financial results each year, depending on the weather. That is probably our largest uncontrolled variable at this time.