Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

The cost of fuel and energy, driven by international oil prices, is an issue for all parts of the economy, including farmers and the food industry, and is the subject of regular analysis by, among others, the Competitiveness Council in its annual reports. Such studies underline the need to use inputs in an efficient manner and to maintain and, where possible, improve productivity. The Central Statistics Office analyses changes in agricultural inputs and issues the agricultural input price index on a monthly basis. The costs of all agricultural inputs as measured by this index increased by 4.5% in the 12 months to September 2006, the latest figure available. Two of the major factors in this annual increase of 4.5% were the increases of 9.2% in the cost of motor fuels and 4.4% in the cost of electricity. However, international oil prices have eased in recent weeks and this has impacted on fuel prices for farmers and others.

The Government recently issued a Green Paper outlining its policy options on achieving its three objectives of security of energy supply, environmental sustainability and economic competitiveness. The Green Paper puts forward energy policy options for the next decade and beyond designed to meet the needs of consumers and business to support and sustain our economic growth. A 20% increase in energy efficiency by 2020 is a key target of the Green Paper. My Department contributed to the Green Paper and supports its aim to develop an energy policy framework to 2020. We particularly welcome the commitment to prepare a national bioenergy action plan by end 2006. The agriculture and forestry sectors have an important contribution to make in this area and I am working closely with ministerial colleagues, as part of the ministerial task force, to oversee preparation of this action plan. This will ensure a cohesive approach to the development of this sector across Departments, State agencies and relevant stakeholders.

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