Fiona O'Malley (Dún Laoghaire, Progressive Democrats)

It must come as a crushing blow to Fine Gael to discover that its proposal is highly illegal. It is unfortunate that the party did not carry out the requisite research before introducing the Bill. Nonetheless, the legislation provides us with the opportunity to discuss this important issue and for that we should be grateful.

I raised this matter on the Adjournment in October 2004. When reading back over the Official Report, I realised how out of date what I said at that time — which was then all brand new — has become. I also came to realise the level of unanimity that exists in respect of this matter. The Oireachtas committee of which I am a member tried to pull together everyone's thinking on climate change and the development of a biofuels industry, but the one group that offered resistance was that comprising the Fine Gael Members. That is unfortunate because we are all interested in the same thing, namely, the development of an indigenous bio-fuels industry.

We have a golden opportunity to work together for the good of the country and arrive at a political response to climate change, developing a biofuels industry and changing the way we use fuel, particularly in the area of transport. We could take this opportunity to demonstrate how politicians of different hues can work together, seek to implement the best of each of our parties' proposals and, for the good for the country, move forward.

We must re-examine this matter because, ignoring the illegality involved, the sentiment behind Fine Gael's Bill is highly laudable. The one difficulty I have with the proposal outlined in the Bill — the Minister alluded to this — is that it does nothing to encourage the development of an indigenous industry.

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