Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the gentlemen for their presentations. Regarding reducing the 7% cap, which operates efficiently, at least at present, to 3.8%, is it the position that the new RED II would significantly alter the course charted by RED I? What impact would this have on the growing of crop-based biofuels such as sugar beet, rapeseed and maize? These are normal alternatives in terms of farm activity to ordinary grain-growing, which, as Deputy McConalogue has indicated, was on the verge of dropping out of the equation altogether in terms of viability over recent years. What is important about biofuel production at farm level is that it provides an important source of high-protein by-products, which are central to many of the rations that may well be forming. Is that not the case? What would happen, for example, in Ireland, where we are highly dependent on beef and dairy products, which replace at significant cost the soya inputs at that level, if this were to be achieved and if a virtual halving of the cap were to come into it? Surely the argument or focus of the policy objective is to achieve a significant reduction in carbonisation. It is surely self-evident that biofuels are cleaner than normal fossil fuels. Are we in Ireland in a position to say what the net impact of biofuels has been in terms of reduced carbon dioxide emissions? What is the rationale for all these proposals under RED II? How and why are they progressing at all in the face of negative regulatory impact analyses by a number of independent bodies? The bio-ethanol industry is significant. Can the witnesses explain or outline how this would all be impacted if this proposal and directive were to come into being? Will the witnesses outline the position the Minister, Deputy Naughten, has adopted to date on these proposals?