Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

It is disappointing that the publication of the White Paper on energy seems to have been postponed yet again and that it has taken the skyrocketing price of oil, at $70 and more per barrel to focus our minds on the matter. Would the Minister welcome submissions from all the stakeholders in the energy industry and from the other political parties in this House in order to shape the medium and long term strategy?

Does the Minister share the concerns recently expressed by the British Minister of State for Energy, Mr. Malcolm Wicks MP, about power cuts this winter in the UK due to gas shortages and, in particular, wider problems in the British wholesale gas market? Is it possible that security of supply of Irish gas could be affected? Will security of supply be a key component of the White Paper on energy?

I welcome the pricing initiative announced by the Minister and the replacing of the AER programme. That is something we could perhaps discuss in this House. Does the Minister intend to take any initiative in the coming months with regard to fiscal incentives?

There has been a great deal of guff in the media since the Minister and I last met. I recall Professor Moore McDowell, David McWilliams and other proponents of the dismal profession of economics urging us all to go nuclear. This campaign appears to have been started by the British nuclear industry. Will the Minister ensure that the economics and the dangers of nuclear power are adequately referred to in the energy policy document?

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