Mr. John Reilly:

I will address the community gain issue. Bord na Móna recently completed a consultation on the development of the Mount Lucas and Bruckana wind farms which are domestically connected. Neither of these wind farms had prescribed community benefit schemes associated with them through planning. We indicated, however, that we would put in place such schemes. Bord na Móna is involved in such schemes; for example, we have a community benefit scheme as part of our landfill operation. We wanted to consult local communities on the formal nature of schemes and how they would be operated. We conducted an interesting consultation before Christmas and are considering the responses we received. As one would expect, we received a wide range of views from community organisations, local sports groups and individuals. A couple of themes emerged from the consultation. Element Power has referred to this issue. Many people want the benefits to be local with a capital "L". This alludes to the concept of near neighbours under which the people whose houses and properties are close to wind farms should be the first and largest beneficiaries of any benefit scheme. There is a sense that this is the correct approach. Bord na Móna is considering what it can do for near neighbours in terms of educational bursaries or support for energy efficiency improvements in homes, perhaps to the point of contributing to domestic electricity bills.

It is an issue that some wind companies in other parts of the island are dealing with in terms of developments. We are looking at all of that.

The community groups tend to want the money to move into capital projects that would upgrade local facilities which they claim would benefit wider swathes of the population. There is quite a strong argument in that area. One of the issues that did not raise its head during the consultation - we were quite surprised - was the concept of community involvement or shareholdings in wind farm developments. My personal view is that we should examine this strongly in Ireland and give people the opportunity to get involved in investment in this type of wind farm. We are looking at a model being used in Denmark. We were surprised it did not come through in the recent consultations. We will be looking at all of those issues.

With regard to imported fuels, as one who has operated in the energy industry for 20 years I do not think the general public is aware of the enormous challenges this country faces in keeping the lights on every day. Last year we imported gas that generated 50% of the electricity to meet our needs, all of which comes through a single pipeline in Scotland. This country is in a very tenuous position and, therefore, focusing on security of supply and enhancing the use of cost-effective indigenous resources has to be looked at. I just about remember the 1970s oil crisis. Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy's point is well made. Something can happen globally, such as the Fukushima nuclear disaster, that can have a very significant impact on the pricing of fossil fuels, as we have seen in the energy market. We have seen that happen many times in the past decade. The way Ireland is trying to deal with it through its energy policy is by not putting all our eggs in one basket. We are looking at a diverse mix of fuels, appropriate amounts of gas, coal and renewables, and using and optimising the indigenous resources available to the optimum level. That is what our energy policy states. We are trying to do that in a way that continuously decarbonises our power system. I believe the policy we are pursuing in Ireland, far from being flawed, is a very good policy. I accept that we need to continue to review it, but it is the right thing to do in securing our energy future.

The final question was on ocean energy and wave energy. That is a big-ticket item from a research and development perspective. Our company's balance sheet would not allow us to investigate everything to the extent needed. I am aware that other State energy companies are looking seriously at the potential of ocean energy but it is not something in which we in Bord na Móna are involved at this point in time.