Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I do not accept that little is happening in practice. An efficiency review has been put in place to see how we can look at issues there. In respect of the overall point made by Deputy Bruton, be it in respect of utility prices or electricity, and the Minister concerned with the advent of the all-island electricity market, which brings its own competitive pressures, we are moving from the old-style State monopoly of the past into a far more competitive environment. The investments envisaged and the question of moving to renewables and trying to reduce our dependence on foreign sources of energy and build up a competitive domestic energy industry are part of the policy framework to which the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources is working.

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