Mr. Se?n Finan:

If I could make one point on the currently available supports, the current support scheme for renewable heat has a biogas element but it is very small and, as far as I am aware, there have been no applications to it. The challenge we have with a lot of the existing supports for electricity and otherwise is that although they allow for the use of the fuel to produce electricity or whatever, they do not ultimately support the development of the infrastructure. As a result, the producer cannot compete. The current renewable electricity support scheme has an option for AD and biomass combined heat and power to be bid in but, in reality, they cannot be bid in because the cost of the production of biomethane or biogas is a lot higher than the intermittent renewables, and no value is placed on the other benefits that the continuous element of AD can bring.

Our opinion regarding the renewable heat obligation is that its introduction would be a positive.

However, we would have to see the detail to determine whether it is sufficient. We have not seen any detail yet. I would like to make one final point and Mr. Ó hUiginn wants to make one point too. All the European markets have been developed by an initial operational support. They have potentially diversified those supports to other forms. The reality is that if we want to get a sector up and running, we need an operational support of some form or another. We can talk about obligation schemes, capital grants or whatever. The volume of capital is significant. All the main European markets in their infancy, and to this day in most cases, have an ongoing operational aid support that is key to the development of the sector and that gives the market certainty that developers like BioCore and others need so that when they go to the bank to look for funding, they have the certainty of support over a long period. Because an obligation scheme can change, it would potentially not give that long-term certainty. We have seen recent changes in the transport biofuels obligation scheme. The number of certificates for biomethane increased. However, at the stroke of a pen, a Minister could decide to reduce that. That could put companies out of business. That is a concern with regard to obligation schemes. Our feedback is that a more long-term support in the form of an operational aid is required, similar to the way other European countries have operated.