Mr. Kevin Brady:

A point about human rights was made at the outset. It is important to pick up on that. We have talked today exclusively about sustainability. Energy policy, however, is about sustainability, security of supply and competitiveness leading to affordability. When we talk about all of this, although we need to do so for climate reasons, we always need to be sure of how security of supply is affected. Will people's homes be heated? Will they have a supply of electricity? After recent storms, we saw what needs to be done. I point to the climate adaptation plans published recently in that we need to prepare our country for climate change, bearing in mind the need to sustain the electricity supply and the points on competitiveness and affordability.

I have a couple of points to make on biofuels. Two thirds of the biodiesel in Ireland comes from used cooking oil. We have not mentioned the one third that comes from tallow, which is a waste product of animals. On the two thirds that comes from used cooking oil, there was a case of fraud. The fraud involved something that was not used cooking oil which was purported to be used cooking oil. As a result of that fraud, we should not decide that reused cooking oil is somehow bad. It was something which was purported to be reused cooking oil that was bad. Used cooking oil, which is a waste product, is still higher up the hierarchy in that it is using a waste as opposed to using land, considering the potential indirect land use changes, etc. It is certainly better than using fossil fuel. I take the Senator's point, but where there is fraud we need to stop it.

Under the new renewable energy directive, there is a new Europe-wide database to allow for traceability and for all countries to talk to one another and submit information. The EU is leading in this regard and Ireland will very much play its part in working together to eliminate the fraud. It is our intention to maintain the double counting. That is what we set out in the public consultation. The decision is not made and we will listen to the submissions to the consultation. Our reasoning is based on the circular economy. We are trying to use waste above other things.

Rewetting the bogs is good for the climate. It does not really tie in with biofuels. Bord na Móna has tried to grow different types of biomass on the bogs but this has not been overly successful to date. If there is a crop that can be grown on bogs and that can be used to fuel vehicles, we are be absolutely open to listening. At present, however, it does not look practicable.