Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Is the Minister concerned that the growing scarcity of and demand for bio-fuels, in the way he has outlined, is expected to lead to very significant increases in the cost of foods in Ireland and in other EU countries and particularly for poor people in the developing world? Has the Minister had an opportunity to look at some of the assessments of the impact of bio-fuels both on inflation and on economies, particularly developing economies? Has he called for any reassessment of the impact, bearing in mind that our petrol prices are in the mid range in the EU, and that our public transport alternatives are strictly limited compared to most of our EU competitors? Will we face massive food price rises because of the changing strategy in regard to bio-fuels?

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