Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

There is no need to do that but we should change the planning laws to state that each significant area should have a petrol forecourt — there is nothing wrong with that — and it should have a hotel as well. Perhaps the Minister of State has not noticed what his Government is doing in this city and other areas but it is taking away some of the services we need. I support the provision of services in Tullamore and other areas of Laois and Offaly but we also need them here in Dublin.

I broadly welcomed the Minister's suggestion yesterday. I have long asked him to look at the renewable transport fuels obligation introduced by my colleagues in the British Labour Party, Chancellor Gordon Brown and Prime Minister Tony Blair, that will require 5% of all fuels sold at the pumps by 2010 to be bio-fuels. We should follow the trails that have been blazed in Brazil, America and Canada. When I read the Minister's statement yesterday, however, I still could not see any details of how this will operate or when it will be implemented.

Some farmers are upset because they cannot avail of the benefits that might come from switching to bio-fuel production.

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