John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

This will assist farmers in meeting the emerging demand for bio-fuel feedstocks. Establishment grants of 50% are also being provided to farmers for the planting of new energy crops such as willow and miscanthus, and funding is being made available for the purchase of specialised biomass harvesting machinery.

The Department of Agriculture and Food bio-energy programmes are linked directly to the measures being introduced by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.

In addition to the bio-fuels policy development programme, a series of new schemes has been introduced to develop the renewable heat market. These include the hugely successful €47 million greener homes domestic grants scheme and the €26 million bio-heat programme, which is providing grants for commercial, voluntary and community groups for the installation of wood chip and wood pellet boilers, as well as solar and other renewable technologies. The €11 million combined heat and power, CHP, programme is also a valuable funding source for business and commercial entities.

The introduction of these measures will ensure that renewable heat will comprise 5% of Ireland's renewable heat market by 2010. While the EU has not yet proposed any targets for the heat sector, Ireland is positioning itself to contribute to the wider EU debate on targets from a measured and informed perspective.

Similarly on renewable electricity, while the renewable electricity directive only requires us to achieve a 13.2% target by 2010, we have made sufficient progress to be in a position to increase this target to 15%. The renewable electricity feed-in tariff is providing the mechanism through which this new target will be achieved. We are also forging ahead with applied research into ocean energy technologies, with a view to placing Ireland at the forefront of worldwide ocean energy research.

The Government is to be commended on its strategic and integrated approach to developing our renewable resources, and I am pleased to note that the bio-fuels obligation will be introduced following detailed consultations with industry players.

Notwithstanding the need for consultation, which is necessary to allow industry the lead-in time to deliver the target, it is not possible for the Government to accept the Bill as proposed by the Opposition today because the measures in question cannot be introduced without contravening EU law. I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate and look forward to hearing concrete proposals from the opposite side of the House——

See this speech in context