Mr. Se?n Finan:

I will respond to a few of the Deputy's points. There are many different uses of biomethane and biogas. The uses are dependent on the economics of it, from the point of view of the costs and the return. There is potentially off-grid and on-grid use for biomethane and biogas. There is more value to be gained from the resource by using it in the transport sector rather than for heating. It depends on the individual economics.

On feedstocks, we see a broad mix of feedstocks being used. Again, it comes back to the economics of it. Different feedstocks come at different costs. We have done quite a bit of work on the different costs of various feedstocks. That has an impact on the actual support requirements, depending on the type of feedstocks that are used. Biogas and biomethane are currently used mostly in the generation of electricity. There is some injection taking place, which is being done by one of our members. However, the support mechanism that has delivered in the past is for renewable electricity. A lot of the biogas being produced at the moment is being used to produce renewable electricity.

On the level of interest, we have received lots of interest from many different stakeholders, including farmers who are willing to grow feedstocks, people who are willing to develop facilities, developers, and technology providers who have technologies and are wondering why Ireland is not advancing in the industry when we are seeing growth in other markets. We have also received interest from energy users. Transport companies are interested in getting their hands on biogas and biomethane. There are also thermal users who want renewable gas as well.

On key enablers, planning is one of the big ones. We have a lot of experience around the planning process through our European Innovation Partnership, EIP, project. There is very little awareness at a planning authority level as to the different types of scales of industry that are possible. There is a lack of knowledge about what the technology actually is and what it does. That is replicated amongst the public and our local political representatives. There is a lack of understanding as to what the technology is, what it does and what it can do.

On the Deputy's last point on our experience and engagement to date, we have engaged with the Department of Transport, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on the development of the sector. Going back to a previous question asked by Deputy O'Sullivan, the one challenge that we face is that when we go to one Department, we are told that the benefits relate to the area of responsibility of another Department and we are asked why the Department should have to fund an industry that will bring benefit to another sector. I think we need a whole-of-government approach. Many Government Departments must come together to create the strategy that is required to mobilise this industry. The policy paper we produced with Cré highlighted that seven Government Departments will significantly benefit from this industry. I will not name the Departments, but there is a broad range of benefits to be gained from the industry. We are engaging with many Government Departments and officials. We have had very good engagement, but we want to move that to the next stage in terms of putting policy in place that will drive the development of the industry.