Fiona O'Malley (Dún Laoghaire, Progressive Democrats)

If a private individual wants to operate a bus service, he should be allowed to develop that service. We must ensure flexibility in this area. No one cares who owns the bus as long as it arrives and brings him where he needs to go.

Ireland faces difficult questions over the issue of excise duty on aviation fuel because of our island position. It must be considered as one of the challenges we face in dealing with climate change.

I agree with Deputy Gilmore that we must have more stringent building regulations. I visited a school in my constituency that was built 30 years ago. The principal of that school was worried about the heating bill for the school just as the ESB and Bord Gáis Éireann had introduced their increases of 20% and 34%. We must incentivise public buildings to restore roofs and install insulation to allow them to reduce their heating bills. We must also provide for such measures in the regulations for new buildings. If we had stricter regulations, we could save up to 22% of our energy costs. Prevention is always better than cure.

I listened to Professor Des O'Neill speaking in the Joint Committee on Health and Children about the value of the medical card for the over 70s. While giving a card to everyone regardless of need may be an expensive way to achieve something, he pointed out that it has reduced need because it has encouraged people to adopt preventative instead of curative measures. He said it represents great value for money so we must apply the same principle to energy use.

I am confident, therefore, that the budget next week will contain measures to encourage people in their houses and cars to reduce consumption. That is how we will make progress with carbon emissions. The Government has a duty to encourage and inform people and I commend the Power of One campaign, which has made people reflect on energy use and consumption.

The Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources produced a report earlier this year in which we indicated that we would like to see a debate on the use of nuclear energy. With such extraordinarily high rises in gas and oil prices, we must consider nuclear power. Can we afford to keep Ireland a nuclear-free zone? There will be a high price to pay to do that and we must be honest about that.

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