Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Does the CRU accept that the process it has employed and the arbitrary cut-off point of five years has a significant impact on prospective investors in the energy space? The risk is enormous. It has been pointed out that if one gets planning permission, one can extend it. There is more flexibility there for obvious reasons but the CRU is not bound by the same flexibility requirements. That is clearly a problem because €90 million has gone into this project thus far. We cannot just say, "Sorry, the time is up". That cannot be the investment and regulatory environment in which these types of businesses are expected to operate. We are supposed to be moving towards cleaner energy. We want to encourage this type of investment but we have what appears to be an extremely hostile environment. I cannot understand it. Either the process was broken or it is broken now. We cannot sit back and just accept that this is the way it is. Have other member states transposed the directive in the same way as us? Do they have a five-year cut-off point whereby if there is some unforeseen bump in the road and a delay, the investment is lost? Is that the risk faced by prospective investors?

If we are trying to encourage this type of business, this example will do much to discourage them. I would certainly think twice about it. We must find a way to get through this. The idea that changes in fuel composition which make the fuel slightly more expensive should cause the certificate to be reduced from 100% to 18% cannot be right. It seems wrong. There is an onus on the CRU, as a State entity, to provide investors and businesses with certainty. The process should yield a similar outcome at least given that pretty much all the key factors are the same. The only change - and this is disputed - has been the cost of the fuel, yet the certificate has been reduced from 100% to 18%. We cannot have a regulatory environment which allows that to happen.

What will be done to save this project and to restore confidence among prospective investors that this will not happen to them? If this is a real risk for prospective investors, they will not invest in Ireland which will be a problem for us beyond Mayo Renewable Limited.