Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

The objective of my party in doing so was to benefit and protect the interests of domestic and industrial energy consumers. This has not always been the case. I heard people moan on radio this morning about the reasons the price of electricity should be reduced. As I indicated earlier, it is better late than never. On what basis were prices increased two months ago given that prices were falling all over the world at the time? One need not have been a nuclear physicist to have worked out that prices were falling on the markets. On the day the increase in the price of gas was announced the product was free on the London market. Despite our sophistication, we have not yet defied gravity.

The consumer should benefit from changes in the energy marketplace. This will require significant investment both in research and development of the alternative energy sector and in security of the grid. Interconnectors should not be developed to the point that they discourage research and development in alternative energies.

Fine Gael Party policy is to invest €500 million on research and development in its first four years in Government. I watched Ministers raise their eyebrows and describe this proposal as outrageous, yet in recent years the Government has received dividends from the ESB amounting to €350 million and benefited from a further €360 million in extra VAT arising from hyped up prices.

I hope someone will not decide in 12 or 18 months that higher energy costs are necessary. Any such move would have an immediate negative knock-on impact on the economy. More than 30,000 jobs are being relocated to other jurisdictions because energy and other costs have increased to the extent that it is no longer possible for the companies in question to remain here. This trend affects all constituencies. County Donegal, for example, is experiencing serious job displacement because the economy is becoming less and less competitive. This is an unsustainable position.

We must invest heavily in developing alternative energies, rather than waiting for the interconnector to open in order that we can use energy resources generated elsewhere. While we can also export via the interconnector, it is not certain we will do so. The use of the interconnector will create dependence on the European grid, which has failed twice in the past 18 months. It is only when the lights go out that we realise how important it is to have access to a permanent supply of energy. The Ministers, North and South, must accept responsibility for directing the regulators. When we exchange places in the House, I will happily put in place the measures required.

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