Mr. Charles Stanley-Smith:

I am equally bemused, as Senator Lombard is, by the lack of anaerobic digesters in this country. There is a very big opportunity there. I have talked to Teagasc and to some people in the IFA and I gather there are some problems about how one ensures the end product, the distillate, is safe to deal with.

There seem to be many technical problems that I thought one could get over. There seems to be a problem with how they are funded and the opportunity for farmers or whoever wants to do it to get funding for it. In general, I am as bemused as the Senator as to why there is not so much of it.

Recently something occurred which I find strange. An organisation - I cannot remember which - is looking for 10 million tonnes of silage to put into anaerobic digesters now, at a time we all know there is a problem. There is a difference between carrying out AD on slurry and other things. Growing silage has the problem of requiring inputs of fertiliser to grow which again have a climate-change problem. That seems a bit different and somewhat off the wall. However, I cannot understand why it is not happening for dealing with problems at a local level, a co-op level, that kind of thing.