Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)

I support the Minister on the issue of the €45 per hectare. It is wholly inadequate and if we are serious about this issue, we should put serious money into it because we are facing a significant bill in respect of carbon credits.

Will the Minister comment on the plans, if any, she has to stimulate the use of sugar beet for the extraction of bioethanol? It is critically important we get some direction from her in that regard. When has the Minister met specifically with the Minister with responsibility for energy on the co-ordination of a biofuel industry in this country? The Minister is right. There is not much point in encouraging the use of biofuels if there is not the demand for it. To date, the Government has done nothing to encourage demand. There is little point in talking about production of 163 million litres of biofuel unless it will be utilised. The issue of demand is critically important. We have seen what happened in other countries. Are we prepared to do anything here?

As the Minister of State has a good working relationship with the Minister with responsibility for energy, will she take the lead on this matter and ensure there is some type of co-ordination? Will she not agree that the frustration exists because there does not appear to be any co-ordination among Departments in terms of getting their act together on this issue?

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