Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I have heard a good deal of common ground. I come down on the side of Senator Brennan regarding the critical issue of having an infrastructure and transmission fit for purpose. Deputy McEntee mentioned, and it was probably at the back of everyone else's mind, the scale of the stepdown in economic activity and wondered whether we need to continue to invest in building out the grid. In response, I ask Deputies and Senators to focus on what has happened in the housing sector. This time last year one could not sell a house here. At the time nobody could have forecast that we would have an acute housing need in Dublin. The housing situation changed overnight. Similarly, the economy will recover and it has started to grow and recover. Ní hé lá na gaoithe lá na scolb. That is not the time to start to address this issue. Deputy McEntee was absolutely right with what she said and it has gone through my own head a lot. We have had discussions on the matter. There are a lot of studies on how much additional investment is needed. There is no doubt in my mind that Senator Terry Brennan is right that one must have a grid that is fit for purpose. The Kells Business Park is not an isolated example and will be the case increasingly.

I agree with all of my colleagues who said it that this process will get more difficult. Deputy Harrington gave examples and wondered where we would be with the 1950s rural electrification programme if we had to deal with the scale of community resistance demonstrated in some parts of the country today. We practise a very difficult trade because it is very interesting to have the correct approach and the right scientific direction. If a politician does not get re-elected to the House then there is not much point in having additional knowledge to use in the policy formation stage. I understand that colleagues have come under a lot of pressure.

As I said here before, if we had not built the railways when we did then one would not be able to build them now. I am not sure that I agree, all of the way, with Senator Barrett's viewpoint that railways are a stranded asset. I was in the west of Ireland at the weekend and witnessed a lot of people pour out of the trains. However, I accept that the load factor may not be as big in the middle of a normal week as it was on the bank holiday weekend. Certainly, if we had not built the railways when we did then we could not build them now. It is a huge issue for us.

Reasonable people must be engaged with to explain that economic prosperity depends on having a grid that is fit for purpose. The comforts of modern day civilisation which – mostly fortunately – we enjoy in this country cannot be delivered unless we have a system that is fit for purpose. It is remarkable that we do not dig deeply into energy policy as we do into other policies. Senator Sean D. Barrett said he saw me on the corner of St. Stephen's Green where we were launching a report published by UPC on technology, uptake of broadband and the rapid pace of change in Irish society in terms of access to the Internet. If there is a party in the House that has a comprehensive policy on energy, I do not know it. Colleagues find it very difficult to confront some of the difficult questions. They have opposing views on such things as rising prices, as expected, but a comprehensive approach to energy policy has not crossed my desk. I include my own party in this. I am sure some colleague will correct me and say there is one.

The 29% price rise, to which Senator Sean D. Barrett properly draws attention, is predominantly a function of what has happened in gas prices in the intervening years. When making a comparison to housing and assessing how quickly we can be overtaken in public policy, I should have made the point that it was interesting to note that peak demand for gas and electricity was arrived at in January 2010 after the crash and the reason was the snow in that month. That is a salutary lesson that, unfortunately, we cannot fold our arms, say we have plenty of energy, that the economy is static and that we can relax. The events of January 2010, outside the economic boom, show why we cannot relax.

The midlands export project will not proceed. It is not feasible within the time constraints imposed by the European framework. It was a ring-fenced project which was to adopt a different technology. Interconnection between member states is encouraged as a central plank of European policy and is a two-way street. We will be importing energy supplies from Britain and the impact of interconnector between Wales and Ireland has been positive on Irish prices. The short answer to the question is that the midlands export project will not proceed.

Will we meet our targets? We think we will. With regard to renewable energy, we are halfway towards our 2020 targets in terms of wind energy. Based on the advice we have received and the connection offers being pursued by developers, we think we will reach them. However, the story is less positive in the areas of heat and transport, which are more problematic. I must ask my colleagues to prepare a note in response to Senator Sean D. Barrett's point that the subsidy for electric vehicles is equivalent to the extra cost of running a normal car. The car manufacturing sector has been addressing the issue of price of a car which up to now has been priced with a premium. The savings in running costs have been dramatic. Therefore, I am sceptical of the Senator's assertion, but perhaps it needs examination. The ESB national charging points infrastructure is in place and well advanced and the final touches are being put to it. According to European experience and the figures we have available, we are likely to see it climb dramatically between now and 2025 and it will make a contribution.

Senator Sean D. Barrett rhymes off the sources of energy. The energy mix is important. Nobody in his or her right mind would be reliant on one source of fuel. The Senator rightly points out that the price of coal has been falling, largely due to the shale gas phenomenon and the exports of coal from the United States. One of the linkages policy makers cannot ignore is how to reconcile energy policy with climate change policy. There are constraints no matter how one tries to arrange the mix. We have climate change targets to meet and they are hugely onerous. While I think we got the rough end of the stick in 2007, there is a price to be paid for not meeting them. No policy maker can ignore this.

IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland have been involved and will continue to be involved as we work towards the White Paper. It is important that they be involved. Microgeneration has not been an outstanding success. Only Electric Ireland has participated or offered to help in the initiative under way in this regard. If the argument is that the State should intervene, perhaps there might be a good argument for it, but we must measure it against the impact on prices. However, the uptake has not been great.