Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Opportunities for development of the green economy generally are central to the vision for a smart economy, which recognises the need to move to a low-carbon society, drawing on our natural resources to tackle the inter-related challenges of climate change and energy security. We are making progress on the question of how we can build a sustainable energy industry in our own country. Targets are being met and there has been much investment, not only by companies such as the ESB but also by other companies entering the field. We do have identifiable advantages in wave and wind energy, which we need to harness, and we are in the process of developing these in the context of an all-island electricity market. The innovation task force is not related directly to that sector but it will provide assistance to those who wish to achieve innovation right across the economy, in terms of fiscal ideas as well as the generation of innovation within companies, change management, and a range of other issues that are fundamental in moving to a different way of doing things. Greater effectiveness and efficiency will result in higher productivity.

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