Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

After listening in my office to the arguments made by all sides, I am glad of the opportunity to speak on this motion. Fine Gael's proposals must be striking a chord because the Government has launched an unprecedented attack on Deputy Durkan's motion. The Government's response was obviously written by civil servants, who normally write factual material but in this instance have used extraordinary political language.

For the past six years, I have helped people to develop a wind farm, so I have first hand information about what is involved. The people concerned have already suffered an exercise in frustration and now that everything is ready, they have discovered they must wait two years for delivery of the turbines they ordered. Turbines, which are manufactured in Germany and the Netherlands, are in massive demand in America, where it is easier to enter the electricity grid than in Ireland. The conditions on grid compliance are far more stringent in Ireland than in America. As a result, Dutch and German companies are selling significant numbers of turbines in the American market.

A turbine producing 2.3 MW costs €1.8 million and the aforementioned people plan to install 16 turbines, which represents a major investment. They also have to pay a 25% deposit on the machinery. Wind farms are said to be attractive to farmers but I wonder how many farmers will be able to afford that level of investment. The real world should be acknowledged because it is not that simple and significant outlays are required.

The people concerned have also been discouraged by bureaucratic obstacles. It took them a considerable length of time to reach a purchase agreement and it is not a simple matter under the REFIT programme to find somebody who will take energy. Planning permission has been granted under gate 1 for 4,000 MW of wind energy, which is sufficient to satisfy demand until 2013. Anyone who wants to produce wind energy will have to wait until then to do so unless Government policy changes to allow more wind energy in the grid. It is obvious that an interconnector is needed and the sooner one is built, the better.

As I told the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism today, provision should be made in the capital grants programme for solar heated water and dressing rooms in the country's sports centres. My club has installed solar panels and, as a result, we have no oil bills and even during the winter the water is hot. This could easily be done elsewhere.

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