Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)

That environment has not come about overnight but has developed over many years. We have become more conscious of the challenge because oil and gas prices have increased significantly in recent times and have put huge pressures on commerce and economies throughout the world. Oil now costs $70 per barrel and will probably remain at that price or even increase, a prospect which will not be easy to manage. The dispute between Russia and Ukraine over the cost of gas brought home to us our dependency on fossil fuels. We need to take a broader approach to conserving energy and making best use of our known and potential energy resources if we are to meet the demands made by the cost of energy.

People of my age cannot easily accept that energy resources are finite and will not last forever. Some argue that more resources will be found or that the problem can be solved by means of interconnectors between North and South or between Ireland and the European Union, but that is not the case. Over the past century, the world's population has increased fourfold but energy consumption has increased one hundredfold. It will not be possible to continue to produce energy from a finite resource. As a matter of urgency, we should introduce energy modules into primary and secondary school curricula to ensure the population in generation and young people in particular are made aware of issues such as energy, conservation and environment.

A number of countries have set targets for reducing the use of oil and one Nordic country, Sweden, expects to be 50% oil-free by 2020 and completely oil-free by 2050. Deputy Carey referred to other countries which are almost self-sufficient in terms of biofuel production. We should set similar targets to reduce our oil and gas usage, conserve energy and diversify energy sources.

A number of energy sources were mentioned, including wind energy. I am surprised that a country like Ireland, which is surrounded by hills, has been slow in developing wind energy. Difficulties arise in respect of equipment, connections to the grid and the environment. Clearly, wind farms need to be sensitively built not to interfere with areas of natural beauty. However, they have the potential to grow and to give us a significant amount of energy in the future. They may also be a source of additional income to some farmers experiencing significant difficulties in terms of farm income. Wave energy should also be considered, given that we are an island nation, with seas all around our coast, and it has the potential to produce significant energy resources.

The issue of nuclear energy and fuel has been put back on the agenda this week by the British Prime Minister. Nobody in this House believes we should pursue that option. It involves major initial cost and there is serious downstream difficulty with reprocessing uranium, while the pollution issue rules the option out. Safety is another issue and this year we have the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.

We should look at biofuels. It has been mooted that the Mallow sugar plant, now closed, could be used for the production of ethanol. While it may not produce significant amounts of energy, in a situation of finite energy resources and major energy costs, every new process that produces even a small amount of energy should be looked at and welcomed as part of an energy strategy and policy, particularly for a country such as Ireland.

In line with what I said earlier with regard to education, the energy question should be dealt with on a cross-departmental basis because it touches all Departments. All aspects of life, whether in the health or education services, roads or industry, are touched by the energy debate, energy resources and their cost. It is only by means of a cross-departmental approach that the real importance of the issue will be brought home, not just to us but to the country at large.

In the event of this Bill passing, I hope we will not have a situation similar to that in many other areas, whereby the Minister of the day effectively evades his or her responsibility by referring all Dáil questions and queries to the Commission for Energy Regulation. This is something we have most recently seen in the Health Service Executive and also with the National Roads Authority. Members of this House have found it impossible to get replies either from the Minister of the day or his or her Department with regard to those issues. I trust this will not happen in this instance.

On the issue of insulation and conservation of energy, while I welcome the grants for solar panels and so on, as introduced recently by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, they are inadequate and must be increased significantly. Insulation and conservation of energy are issues which must be tackled urgently. The building regulations could be used to do this. We need at least twice if not three times the recognised level of insulation in our buildings. That should be introduced by means of building regulations. It has been done in a couple of local authority areas and it should be done countrywide. The only effective way to do that is to introduce it by way of regulation or legislation, whichever is the most appropriate.

See this speech in context