Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this motion and to support the Government amendment moved by my colleague, the Minister for Finance. Fine Gael's motion is leading us in the wrong direction. It is a short-term reaction that will do nothing to help people and the economy to face energy problems in the longer term. These problems will not arise in five or ten years' time; they have already arisen and we need to address them today. Fine Gael's motion provides neither a solution nor a long-term direction for the people.

Energy policy is complex but we must keep three considerations in mind. Our energy needs to be competitive and clean and our supplies must be secure. We face challenges in each of these considerations. The need for clean energy is obvious if we are to avoid tilting our planet into catastrophic runaway climate change. The emissions trading system established by the European Union is the cornerstone of our response and hopefully will be the basis of the international response agreed in Copenhagen in 2009. The system is far from perfect, however, and my party has consistently recommended that the allocation of carbon credits, which is the basis for trading, should be done by auction rather than free allocation. I am glad the EU is changing its policy so that auctions will form the basis of the emissions trading scheme from 2010. Every party in this House which supports measures to address climate change is supportive of the trading scheme and the mechanisms which have led to Fine Gael's motion.

Fine Gael makes a number of mistakes in its argument. It confuses the emissions trading scheme and the effect it has on electricity costs with the wider issue of energy cost rises elsewhere. One of the main reasons for the pain being felt in the transport and home heating sectors is security of supply. Alongside concerns for clean energy, supply issues are now dominating energy policy. The effect is also being felt in the electricity sector as gas prices follow the trajectory of increasing oil prices. Fine Gael's short-term reaction of cutting taxes is not the correct way to proceed because it misunderstands global developments in energy. That is not only the opinion of the Government. The chief economist of the International Energy Agency, an organisation which has historically been conservative on the issue of security of supply, has clearly stated that we face an urgent problem which requires radical change in how we use energy rather than a short-term tax reduction approach.

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