Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I never have any difficulty giving the Deputy credit.

This Thursday, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, will publish a document, Energy in Ireland, which would be a good backdrop for a discussion next week. It will have much of the information, the data and experience in respect of renewable energy in Ireland and the relative success of different technologies.

Ireland is not unique. Every country is addressing the move to renewable energy and wants to make progress in this regard. Many countries are making great strides. It is a process that has to accelerate, however. That might not necessarily be music to everybody’s ears but it has to be accelerated if we are serious about decarbonisation.

People point to the other technologies. We can diversify. Onshore wind does not have to be the answer on its own in this agenda. It will inevitably be a prominent part of the answer, given its cost effectiveness. We should diversify and we will diversify, however. In this refit consultation, we will be able to see what the best technologies for diversifying are, the most successful, the cheapest and what level of subsidies will they need. I am very excited about many of these new technologies, particularly offshore wind which has amazing and incredible potential, particularly for a country like Ireland. However, it will take a considerable number of years for those technologies to come through and being capable of being funded and supported. As I keep saying, for whoever is in this job next year or for the next five years and beyond, decarbonisation is going to be one of the most critical, if not the most critical, issues this country will have to face, as will every other country. We cannot do it without some heavy lifting. If we decide to move away from one form of energy, we will have to replace it with another. There are no simple answers to these questions. There is great potential, however.

The other issue to bear in mind from an economic point of view is that climate change and its impact is spoken of too often as a threat, a risk and as something bad.

Of course, the adverse effects could be terrible for countries. Although they would not be felt most immediately in this country, they would ultimately be terrible for every country. We already see what is happening in some of the Pacific islands. The adverse effects will be huge. Let us stop talking about it all the time as a threat and a risk because there are great business opportunities for Irish companies to bring forward new ideas. We mentioned innovation earlier, as did Deputy McEntee. I think we should be positive about what the opportunities are while respecting the need to ensure we have a robust form of public engagement and consultation.