Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am trying to figure out the short answer. A constituent raised this issue with me and it is also going around inside my head. Where are we going to get that from? That is what I want to know, in short. I know it is the burden of policy but it can be very difficult for us to get answers to these questions. We are given something like one minute on the floor of the Dáil. I am trying to get information from Mr. Griffin, as Secretary General of the Department, because he is obviously in the know on this. My concern, in the first instance, is that the lights do not go out and there will be power for homes, industries, hospitals, schools and everything else over the coming few years. Where will it come from? Is there potential to use more gas?

Mr. Griffin knows my line with regard to biogas. We have an agricultural waste problem. We are playing catch-up with this. We should have been doing it ten years ago. I was told up to a few years ago that it was too expensive. Now, it can be produced more cheaply. Obviously, because electricity has gone up in price, it can be produced cost-effectively, which would solve our agricultural waste problem and also generate money for farmers. In short, can Mr. Griffin tell me where this extra demand will come from?