Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I hope and plan to have the consultation paper prepared in July this year. There will be a consultation process prior to any legislation being framed.

We are very much driven by the proposals being developed in the European Union. This is an area where we as a small country cannot control world markets or the World Trade Organisation's negotiation rules in the area. We have to work with the Commission. I agree with the key developments it is examining. The first is to guarantee that any bio-fuels development adds a carbon emissions reduction, namely, that there is an energy gain from it. A second development it is examining is that any bio-fuels development must be from sustainable resources. We must ensure we are not in the process of developing bio-fuel targets that would lead to world hunger, that would result in the chopping down of native rainforest or infringe other ecosystems which must be protected and that we can have a clear traceability of fuels so that we know exactly from where they are coming. It is through such European negotiations, which are ongoing and should be completed by the end of this year, that we will establish our policy framework.

A bio-fuels obligation system is the right way to go rather than the taxpayer subsidising the sector. The targets in this sector are different from some of our other renewable targets in that they are not targets for us to strain to exceed or reach at any cost. We need a small supply of bio-fuel alternative fuels to ensure that if we do have a serious future oil shock, we will have an essential alternative oil supply that will run essential farming, industrial and transport services to maintain our society.

The key incentive for me in developing bio-fuels is to have a security of oil supply in the event of a global oil shock. We would obtain a 1% or 2% supply from waste material, which is a small but significant percentage. Such energy generation contributes to solving an environmental problem and it is indigenous. The more companies there are in this area, the better. We should aim to grow as many bio-fuel crops as we can without bankrupting or destabilising other aspects of our agricultural industry. There is potential to grow additional crops, particularly if there is the development of second generation bio-fuels, which involve the use of a feed stock — not a product that would otherwise go into the food chain but one such as algae or some other such product that does not interfere with the food market. We will also be purchasing bio-fuels on the international market, but that can only be done within the constraint of the new EU obligation system which, itself, will set the criteria that makes sure that they are sustainable and that their production does not cause world hunger. That is the policy framework within which we will develop a bio-fuels policy.

See this speech in context