Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the witnesses. I have a few questions written that I will throw at them and they can all give me their opinions on them. I want to hear them, not me, over my six minutes. We should have been here 20 years ago. That is probably the fault of the people this side of the room, not their side of the room, and I would be the first to hold my hand up in that regard. We need to get there, and I am very much pro this. However, we represent communities too, and not everybody in our communities is pro this, so we want to ask a few questions that the public may want to hear the answers to.

As for the first, Mr. Gildea has given the answer. However, can everybody else reiterate to us the benefits of AD when it comes to retaining our nitrates derogation within the agriculture sector? It is a major game-player in that regard. For people in the community, non-agricultural people and maybe people who would be living close to proposed anaerobic digesters, what benefits do the witnesses offer to, or what benefits are there for, the wider community, the agriculture sector aside? Roughly, how many jobs would be created off-farm in the AD sector?

There will always be an issue and questions about odours and noise. Can the witnesses settle that debate, or what do they have to offer with regard to the lack of same for people who spread those rumours, I would nearly call them?

I have seen the process in operation and we need to reiterate here how to minimise odours and noise.

Are there any implications for water quality in the immediate vicinity of the operation? Are there major traffic impacts? On the traffic impacts, I am totally in favour of using by-products, slurry and waste, but I saw one operating in the North using grass. There was a full heavy duty silage outfit guzzling diesel drawing grass 15 miles into an anaerobic digester and I could only agree with the people affected by it that it was a bit of a contradiction. More gas was being burned than produced. Will the witnesses comment on those matters?

I do not know what the Cathaoirleach is doing about the vote.