Ms Marie Donnelly:

That is true. That is a very different and important issue in that the area is opening up to people. The Irish Wind Farmers' Association has been established and is an active group.

An issue of which the Senator reminded me is that if there are, for example, three wind turbines generating power in an industrial park such as that in Ringaskiddy the power generated cannot be sold to other factory outlets on the site because of a rule which I think was brought in by the Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1995 and which does not allow a direct wire. To overcome the obstacles that exist, we sometimes have to go back into the archives and remove rules and legislation that made sense then but do not make sense today. We should remove obstacles that prevent people doing potentially useful things.

My vision for agriculture in this country is that it would be carbon neutral. That is a vision, objective and aspiration toward which every farmer in Ireland could move. It will not be easy and will require change and investment.

On the issue of anaerobic digestion, if I was an investor, I would not invest in anaerobic digestion for biogas unless I had the commitment of farmers who were stakeholders in the business because without that, I could not rely on my source of raw material. I do not see any rationale for investing in it without having the involvement of farmers. They could be whole or part owners but if one does not have a farmer committed to supplying the raw material, one cannot run one's digester. It needs a co-operative type structure to deliver it on the ground. Such structures are in place in certain parts of the country. However, it is expensive technology.

Geothermal energy is very interesting. A geothermal map of Europe is available. Hungary, which sits on a lake of fire, is probably the most interesting place in Europe in that regard. The entire Hungarian energy system could be run solely on its geothermal capacity. Another promising location is under the city of Paris. Many public buildings in Paris are heated and cooled using geothermal energy because the city also sits on a lake of oil. There are some very useful geothermic areas in Ireland which we should maximise. The difficulty with geothermal energy is that it requires a very high level of initial capital investment. Taken over its lifetime, it is a very cheap technology but there is always the question of the upfront investment that is required.

On researchers, I recently attended a meeting at which there was discussion of bringing models for climate change, energy generation and so on together. All the models were linked. However, the agricultural side was omitted and I wondered why that was so. There is an element of getting climate and energy researchers to reach out to the agricultural side but, equally, the agricultural side must put itself in the middle of the debate on energy and climate. I do not see agriculture as a problem but, rather, an opportunity. We will only be able to deal with this and reach a positive solution if we take that attitude.