Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It has to grow to scale. Enterprise Ireland companies have grown to scale. They start as high potential start-ups. Enterprise Ireland puts in its own capital and attracts venture capital. There is a very good model for developing technologies, for which I have been responsible, and I do not see anything better in any of the countries to which I go. Where a state decides to do it, it creates rigidity that is hard to replicate. Bord na Móna is an exception because of its long history, but it is looking for technologies to adopt. It is a State company that is diversifying and looking for new technologies. We should not say the State is going to go into a new wheeze we have identified. Let it emerge in the usual way. The price of electricity offered to microgenerators or community renewable electricity support schemes in an auction will have to be decided over time. It is not set at this time but will have to evolve.

It will be a challenge to be carbon neutral by 2050, but if we start to make the changes required and evolve the technologies, it is possible. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform which is not the most radical in this area states the price of a tonne of carbon in 2050 will be $265. If we factor in this figure to some of what we are doing today, we can see what a radical change it will represent. Things will change rapidly and we have to be ahead of it.

I accept that rural transport is an issue. It is recognised in the report, but, as Senator Mulherin said, we will not have trains running up every boreen. We have to come up with innovative solutions, whether they be shared services, pooling or other innovative ways, to do it. We need to explore them collectively.

The 200 diesel buses were purchased, but I assure the committee that they are low emissions diesel buses and replacing vehicles that are far worse. They were bought as part of a previous procurement framework. A new procurement framework will be put in place on 1 July and there will be no more diesel buses purchased. That will be the policy from here on.

Job opportunities in the regions will continue to present a huge challenge. That is why I am a big advocate of the national broadband plan. I do not want to ask members whether they are, but we need to do things like this. We need to have regional enterprise strategies and hubs that will look at emerging technologies, as Deputy Martin Kenny said, that we will need to try to develop using our own resources. I accept that we can do better in this area, but we have some of the infrastructure required on which to build.