Gerard Murphy (Cork North West, Fine Gael)

This Government has been in power for almost ten years and has not yet realised the serious problem we face as a nation in regard to security of energy supply. Apart from the obvious environmental benefits, the one thing this Government is continually blowing about is its success with the economy. If anything proves that this Administration had very little to do with the success of the economy over the past number of years, the lack of planning and vision in the areas of security of supply and sustainable energy is one of its great failures. It inherited an economy with a budget surplus which was creating 1,000 jobs per month, yet it failed to advance this economy and ensure we have security of supply in the future.

Over the past number of years, this Government has failed to recognise the value of wind energy. The ESB has still not provided the network necessary to maximise our advantage in this area. Ten times more planning permissions are granted by local authorities than the national grid is capable of taking because of the lack of basic infrastructure.

In the last of ten budgets, this Government provided €300 million plus for environmental projects, yet most of this money will be spent purchasing carbon credits because of its inaction in the area of renewable energy. Any Government with any vision should have seen years ago that our agriculture industry was facing an unprecedented crisis. Of all the groups of consultants this Government appointed, surely one of those groups or a Fianna Fáil or Progressive Democrats Minister would have connected the decline in agriculture with the need for renewable energy supplies. As has been said, it was a no brainer. Agricultural resources were available to grow bio-fuel crops and agriculture could have been maintained as a viable industry.

For years this Government knew carbon taxes were on the way. Instead of continually wrangling at EU level about when and to what extent they would be introduced, it could have got its act together and turned the decline in agriculture into an advantage for both the farmer and the nation. Equally, this Government should have seen the writing on the wall for the sugar beet industry. Instead of seizing the opportunity it completely sold out our sugar beet industry. A facility which existed in Mallow in my constituency was capable of producing bio-fuel. Farmers were willing to continue to grow beet at €40 per tonne to produce the fuel because of the value of sugar beet as a rotation crop. Many other crops could have been grown and processed at the plant but sheer lack of vision and planning let the opportunity go. Having closed the factory, the Government has so far failed to ensure its workers, who worked diligently for up to 40 years, are paid their rightful redundancy. Now, in the run-up to an election, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats tell us they are committed to green issues. This Government has been committed to many issues but has delivered very few.

It is not credible for a Government which has been in power for ten years to start adopting policies it might introduce if it is returned after the next election. The Government has had ten years and unprecedented amounts of money and its tax surpluses could have been used to make bio-fuel viable commercially, at the same time revitalising rural Ireland with a vibrant agricultural industry. The Fine Gael proposal is a modest and sensible start, requiring a 5% bio-fuel mix in petrol and diesel. There would be no cost to the motorist as no modification would be necessary and there would be tremendous benefit to farming and the economy. Even at this late stage I urge the Government to accept this very modest but worthwhile Bill.

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