Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

One could never tell what would happen with the ongoing machinations.

We need to concentrate on developing the alternatives. Each Department with responsibility — five or six have such responsibilities — has a major contribution to make. One will not be able to do it on its own. However, serious progress can be made with a co-ordinated approach.

I have referred to the cessation of the sugar beet industry. This was a lost opportunity from the perspective of utilising an existing industry and converting it to another use. There is no reason those who previously had contracts for growing beet for sugar production purposes could not receive compensation in the same way. However, by virtue of its interference, the European Union decided it must proceed in a particular fashion. Neither the Minister nor the Government had the courage or wherewithal to stand up and stop it.

I hope this debate generates positive elements. We need to call upon all our national resources, whether onshore or offshore, including wind, tidal and wave energy. Each has a contribution to make in its own way. No single alternative will provide the answer. The answer will come from a combination of contributors from various areas who together will be able to provide this country with a reliable energy grid which we hope will be independent of all others in terms of import substitution. It will be economically beneficial but, most important, nobody will be able to switch off the interconnector and leave this country without a power source.

The Minister might clarify further the issue involving the interconnectors. One of the Minister's colleagues, showing divine capabilities, said he could be certain that nuclear generated electricity would not be imported here via the interconnector. It is a unique technique to be able to tell where such electricity is generated. I will not elaborate on that further other than to say it is, without doubt, necessary to put the east-west and the north-south interconnectors in place as soon as possible to ensure security of supply and continuity of service.

The Minister indicated in this paper and associated documentation the proposal to build an interconnector. I understand private sector investment and considerable research and development in terms of the preliminaries have gone into that area. The Minister might give some indication as to the way he intends to operate the mix of the private and public sectors in that regard or if it is intended to devote more to one or the other. If we can generate confidence among those likely to provide services in the area, we must be equally aware that private and public sector investors in that type of project must have advance warning.

I welcome the publication of the paper but am concerned about its limitations. I hope that in the discussion that takes place from now on there will be an improvement and that when the final White Paper emerges, it will be something to which we all made a positive contribution and that the consumer will be the winner in the end.

See this speech in context