Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

Every obstacle was put in the group's way and the company that is doing it, Airtricity, is now doing most of its business in Scotland because of the difficulties that arose in this case. I have raised this several times in this House. The scheme will provide significant additional income to 35 farmers in a hard-pressed rural area and will save the Government in assistance what it might have had to pay otherwise. If we are to move forward to provide proper assistance in such areas, we must ensure there is minimal red tape and obstruction. Some help would be a major move forward.

Last week I listened to Teagasc, our national organisation, advising the Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food on what it had done on investigating what power could be provided from poultry litter or pig manure, which it said was not viable. In part of its presentation it suggested that alternative energy was good in the UK and Germany. We asked how that alternative energy is produced in those countries and we found out that there is a Fibrowatt poultry litter biomass fuel power plant at Thetford, Norfolk, giving 40 MW; one at Eye, Suffolk, giving 12.5 MW; Westfield Power Station in Fife giving 10 MW; and there is a fourth one the name of which I cannot recollect. Those have been in operation since the early 1990s. The people who are supposed to do research in this country say such ventures are not viable although we deal with the same EU structures. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, may find it funny that such sources should be used——

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