Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"recognises the:

—ongoing imperative to develop innovative renewable and sustainable energy policies to ensure security of energy supply, economic competitiveness and environmental sustainability, and the major progress being made by the Government in achieving these objectives;

—wide range of investments and supports initiated by the Government to deliver an ambitious programme of renewable and sustainable energy development; and

—comprehensive and holistic strategy of Government in addressing renewable energy priorities, through all-island co-operation and a fully cohesive policy approach involving all relevant Departments, agencies and stakeholders;

commends the Government for:

—the €205 million biofuels excise relief package announced in budget 2006, underpinned by capital grant aid, which will allow Ireland to exceed 2% market penetration by 2008;

—the introduction of the renewable energy feed-in tariff, which will enable Ireland to exceed its target of 13.2% renewable electricity consumption by 2010;

—the introduction of the €27 million "greener homes" domestic grants programme for renewable heat and the success of that programme to date;

—the commitment to further grant schemes shortly to support commercial scale biomass heating and combined heat and power;

—the implementation of a targeted ocean strategy to capitalise on Ireland's unique maritime environment which will position Ireland at the forefront of international research and development in this area;

—the reduced rate of vehicle registration tax introduced for hybrid electric vehicles and flexible fuel vehicles capable of running on 85% biofuels;

—its commitment jointly with the UK Government to the development of sustainable energy on an all-island basis in the context of the all-island energy market;

notes:

—that Fine Gael refused the opportunity to constructively participate in an all-party approach to develop renewable energy policies for the future;

—the Government is strongly committed to promoting and assisting the sustainable production, supply and use of energy through SEI, the statutory agency established for this purpose;

—the wide range of support and research and development programmes which SEI implements in the industrial, commercial, public and domestic sectors in support of those objectives;

—the imminent establishment of the Irish Energy Research Council which will co-ordinate and advise on priorities for energy research technology development and innovation to 2013 and beyond;

—that VRT already takes into account the fuel usage of the car, with bigger cars incurring higher VRT rates, and that review of vehicle tax is the subject of a current European Commission proposal; and

—that EC Directive 1999/94 already requires member states to implement requirements in relation to the provision of information on CO2 emissions and fuel economy in the case of all new passenger cars."

I would like to share my time with the Chief Whip, Deputy Kitt.

I thank Fine Gael for tabling this motion. It is a welcome opportunity from my viewpoint to do three things. First, it gives me the opportunity to outline in detail the extensive measures that have already been put in place by this Government to radically increase the contribution of renewable energy to Ireland's energy mix. Contrary to what Deputy Durkan said when he talked about Fine Gael producing a policy document that gave the lead to the Government, from what I have seen of it, all it did was to copy some of the policies that we are pursuing.

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