John Carty (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak to this motion. I commend Deputy Dempsey on the initiatives he has taken since becoming Minister. The most important one was reflected in the budget for 2006 where a five-year package of excise relief valued at €205 million was announced for biofuel schemes. These schemes will allow Ireland to achieve 2% market penetration of biofuels up to 2008. Funding is also being provided towards the capital cost of developing the processing facilities for biofuels. In my region the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology is involved in processing recovered vegetable oil. If this project is successful, it will contribute greatly to energy savings.

Farmers, too, have an opportunity in producing wood and copse for biofuels. It is most interesting that the by-products of meat, bonemeal and tallow can also be used, because there is a major problem as regards getting rid of such products. We had to export them in the past, and it would be an ideal opportunity to utilise them at this point. I also commend the Minister on the €27 million for the greener homes domestic grants scheme. That is part of a multi-annual finance package of €65 million for renewable energy, which will include grants for a range of renewable heat, electricity and transport initiatives. One of the good parts to this is that the number of applications received by the Department within the scheme's first month was 1,600, and some 1,100 have already been approved. This shows the scheme is being availed of by householders who must be complimented on taking the initiative, as must the Minister for putting it in place.

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