Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

I wish to share time with Deputy Chris Andrews. I welcome this Bill and note the positive reaction it has brought from all sides of the House.

Bord Gáis refutes the tiresome cliché that the private sector is a model of competence and efficiency whereas the public sector is a model of the opposite. I was a customer of the old Dublin Gas Company and, as an official in the late 1970s and early 1980s, had some responsibility for energy matters. Governments of all types went to enormous lengths to prop up the private Dublin Gas Company, which was inefficient and required subsidies. These efforts were ultimately unsuccessful and the company was nationalised in 1987. Bord Gáis is a vast improvement on its previous incarnation. I pay tribute to this company not only for extending the network and operating more efficiently but also for the substantial dividends it has paid to the Exchequer.

Gas is an attractive and efficient fuel. It will not solve the problem of road transport but it has a role to play in electricity generation, heating and industry. It is the ideal fuel in many ways because it comes via a pipeline and does not require transport or special delivery. It is clean, has a good safety record and is not in unduly short supply. At current estimates, gas reserves are probably much greater than oil and other hydrocarbons. It is also an environmentally-friendly fuel, which makes it superior to coal for electricity generation from that point of view. I recall the debates of 20 and 30 years ago regarding the appropriateness of gas for electricity production given its high wastage rates. Perhaps, however, environmental considerations take precedence over strict energy efficiency calculations. Gas turbines are particularly useful from the point of view of peaks in demand. The previous speaker addressed the issue of wind turbines, the output of which is variable. It is necessary not only to generate sufficient electricity for base load demand but also to meet peaks.

With minimal exceptions due to weather and, in the past, industrial disputes, energy providers have ensured security of supply in Ireland. I recognise, however, that we have been living somewhat dangerously recently in terms of our high growth rates. I assume the fact we are now in recession means the pressure on energy supplies will be rather less than it was when we had high single-digit growth.

I very much welcome what Bord Gáis is doing to upgrade the existing network for domestic supply which is improving safety. Avoiding leakage improves safety, reliability and efficiency. I commend it for that work. I am also very supportive of the extension of the national grid to more parts of the country. When Kinsale gas came on stream, we started with a quite limited network, involving Dublin, Cork and some towns in the south east. That is gradually extending to more towns throughout the country. Clonmel was one of the first towns to be connected in 1987, following the construction of the Cork to Dublin pipeline. As it is an important business and industrial centre, it was of great benefit to residents, and business and industry. Carrick-on-Suir benefited from 1998 and what is effectively a new town built around the small village of Ballyclerahan in the vicinity of Clonmel was also connected in 2003.

I read remarks attributed to Deputy Coonan from north Tipperary, an area for which I am not directly responsible, suggesting that there were no towns in north Tipperary that were connected to the gas network. That is not strictly accurate, but he may have been misreported. Ballina was connected in 1998 and Newport in 1999. However, I accept that some of the major towns in north Tipperary are not connected and need to be.

Natural gas has become available since last month in Cashel. I was supposed to carry out the turning on ceremony that day. However, pressure of business not to mention the Opposition in the Dáil, prevented me from attending that event. The cost of the construction project was €4.7 million. Cahir, which along with Cashel benefits from being on the new Dublin to Cork motorway, is scheduled for connection in 2009.

Bord Gáis now seems to have an active policy to utilise its gas network better throughout the country and pursue growth opportunities for extensions to other towns. It is easier to connect towns that are close to the existing network, which is extending outwards. I understand that Tipperary town, which is probably the only major town in the south riding not connected, and Thurles, which is in the north of the county, will be considered for connection under phase 3 of the new towns analysis. This report is due for publication early in the new year. I am sure the people and businesses of both County Tipperary towns would warmly welcome such a development, which is long overdue. In a semi-private capacity as a civil servant dealing with energy matters, I remember giving a talk about natural gas in Tipperary in 1981. A long time has passed since then. As in many of these matters, it is better late than never.

In an official capacity I first became involved in Northern Ireland and North-South co-operation through the issue of gas. In the late 1970s there was a question of Kinsale gas being piped to the North. Indeed a deal was negotiated by Albert Reynolds when he was Minister for Industry and Energy in 1982 with Adam Butler, who was a junior Minister in the North. Unfortunately Mr. Reynolds struck such a good deal that two years later Margaret Thatcher vetoed it and it did not proceed. Since then in much more recent times, the ESB has also been involved through the Coolkeeragh project. Those connections have been established from North to South, from Northern Ireland to Scotland and also directly from Scotland to the east coast of this State. There is another connection — I am not sure if it has happened or is about to happen — across to Letterkenny in County Donegal.

Associated with the Corrib gas project will be the connection of towns in the west and north west where there has been a very significant gap in the map. Like everybody else I would hope that before too much longer there will be a resolution of that dispute. Efforts at mediation are taking place. All of us accept it was badly handled at the beginning. The State has a very strong strategic interest in getting it operational from the point of view of security of supply. I hope that dialogue with some of the groups in what has become a very embittered dispute will lead to a resolution. While there are local rights, the entire country has an interest in it coming to fruition because it will reduce our proportion of imported energy. Matters other than safety have come into play in this matter. Some people want to raise the issue of conditions of supply, taxation and so on. People sometimes talk in terms as if we were like Norway — we are not. We are not in a position to dictate conditions. Recently there has been a tightening of conditions for future supplies.

I refer to the importance of energy conservation, not least in State-owned buildings. The system for monitoring consumption in place in buildings requires attention. We need to be concerned not merely about security of supply, but also efficient usage of the energy we have. We need to be economical in going about that.

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