Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I support the Minister. For many years we have been calling for the building up of infrastructure for our own oil industry. I welcome that. I would be keen to see an ethanol industry established from the closure of our sugar industry among other possibilities.

In the long run, from after 2010, once we have established a basic industry and raised our percentage to 2% to 5%, rather than providing simple tax reliefs or duty exemptions for biofuels, we should set up a percentage requirement that all fuels would have to have, be it mixed in or in the form of biodiesels etc. This would move the costs, which can be significant in terms of lost tax revenue, from the Government and the people to the oil companies and fuel consumers. We should signal this now. Does the Minister agree that in the long run we must switch to such a system? While he may not agree with mandatory targets on a European level, it makes sense for us to have a mandatory biofuel requirement because that saves the taxpayer money as well as doing the right thing environmentally.

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