Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)

The proposal to remove the transmission system from the ESB is unnecessary for competition and threatens the long-term national interest and energy security of the people. The introduction of the all-island electricity market later this year will greatly reduce the ESB's capacity to set the marginal price of electricity, and the recent agreement between the ESB and the CER will divest the ESB of significant generation capacity. Further proposals for divestment and site sharing will result in the ESB becoming mainly a network company with some key strategic generation assets. The Minister's proposal to transfer transmission assets to EirGrid opens the appalling vista of the future privatisation of the ESB, with all the attendant dangers of externally controlled generation in a small, isolated market.

In the White Paper, the renewables agenda has been advanced little from the Green Paper. A more ambitious Government might have sought, as in the Labour Party's White Paper submission, to have half of Ireland's electricity supply generated from renewables by 2020 and the bulk of our electricity based on renewables by 2030. Most disappointingly, the White Paper contains no national targets for the overall contribution of renewable energy to the Irish fuel mix for coming decades. It is little wonder that just under 2% of Irish energy is now sourced from renewables after ten years of the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government.

Amazingly, there is also nothing in the White Paper on micro-generation and little new on energy efficiency and conservation. The common refrain of delivering a sustainable energy future for Ireland is the number of energy programmes which will be ready by the summer or autumn of this year, long after the general election. These include the national energy efficiency plan, the sustainable transport action plan and the 2006 fuel poverty action research project.

Since May 2002, the price of gas has increased by over 100% and the price of electricity has soared by 60%. With these massive increases, the recent Government-commissioned Deloitte and Touche report on the future of the ESB unremarkably concluded that almost 20% of householders were fuel and energy poor. The Labour Party is committed to ending fuel poverty in the lifetime of the next Government. By contrast, the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats document merely restates the current inadequate policies and supports, which currently condemn far too many vulnerable families to living in conditions in which they cannot afford to heat and light their homes properly.

The Ministers and the Deputies on the other side of the House will have seen the effect of the price increases during their canvassing. The pressure the increases have put on senior citizens and families is unthinkable. The Minister, Deputy Roche, said that modernisation and expansion of the natural gas network will reduce emissions by 60,000 tonnes per annum and will provide a cleaner alternative fuel to households and businesses. However, people are not in a position to use natural gas because of the cost. It is having a detrimental effect. In fact, where local authorities have provided natural gas as the energy source for heating and cooking in local authority houses, the people in those houses are asking the local Society of St. Vincent de Paul or the local authority to change the system. I am aware of housing estates where, due to the cost of gas, people are unable to use it and are suffering due to inadequate heating and being unable to use cooking facilities.

The White Paper is high in aspiration but low in detail. The document, for example, lists a series of objectives, such as amending the licensing terms and updating the rules and procedures for the exploration and production of Irish natural resources of oil and gas. However, these are vague hopes rather than concrete proposals. No details are provided about what type of licensing reform will be undertaken or even when and if the Indecon consultants will report on this matter before the general election.

It was hoped that with all the submissions and critiques of the earlier Green Paper the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, and his colleagues would have responded in a more comprehensive manner and revamped the final White Paper accordingly. However, the central policy proposal for the future of the ESB is fundamentally flawed and must be resolutely opposed. As this country and the world now face a critical energy watershed in the context of climate change, the White Paper is seriously deficient with regard to renewables, energy efficiency, fuel poverty and securing the national energy interest for the long term. Anyone with an interest in creating Ireland's long-term energy future will welcome the fact that the Minister and his colleagues have finally produced a bioenergy plan, even as we enter the last two months of the Government's life.

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