Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

In future, the high-level policy energy principles will not just concern what is happening in the ESB, Bord na Móna or Bord Gáis. They will concern what is happening in every home and office in the country. The crucial principle is whether we go to a distributed system using a multiple range of different suppliers for heat, electricity and transport fuels, or whether we stick with the older way of doing things whereby large, single generators provide the bulk of our power. This is an utterly important and central principle.

Even if the Minister of State wants to await the outcome of a consultation document from the CER, it is possible for us — as we discussed when dealing with an earlier amendment — to allow for a provision in the Bill and enact it when such a consultation process is finished. If the Minister of State agrees with the principle but has a problem with timing, it would be eminently feasible for the Government to accept this amendment, thus ensuring that we will not have to come back to the House on this issue. We know how difficult it can be to get legislation through the House.

The House could accept this amendment with the caveat that it would require a ministerial order to be enacted. In that way, we would be able to start progressing it immediately once the Government came round to making the decision. This is not a small or marginal issue; it is fundamental to the type of energy we will have in future. I ask the Minister of State to consider the possibility of making that provision subject to a ministerial order rather than immediate enactment. That would solve the Minister of State's problem in terms of getting ahead of the game, while giving a clear indication from this House — as all parties seem to have done — that this is the direction in which we want to go.

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