Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

I definitely welcome this motion on energy security and am very happy to have an opportunity to speak on it. I thank Deputy Coveney and Fine Gael for giving us that opportunity. From listening to the debate, there is clearly an awareness that we will have a problem to deal with if we expect to continue to consume energy at the current levels. That must be the starting point if we are to come to grips with the challenges we face.

We are currently enjoying - if that is the right word - an oil and gas bonanza which began approximately 150 years ago but which will finish a lot more suddenly than it began. Effectively, it was a windfall which allowed society to become quite complex. We have long supply chains. When I was Minister of State responsible for food and horticulture, an issue I dealt with all the time was the long distances our food travels before it reaches us. That is also the case for manufactured goods. They are just two of the many examples of this high energy consuming complexity.

Added to that is the very inconvenient truth, as Al Gore described it, of climate change which requires us resist the temptation to use every last drop of oil and gas, which is difficult for any human being, even if it was easily available and at an affordable price because that will send us over the edge in climate change terms and result in problems we have not even started to contemplate in terms of food security, emigration, immigration and general mass dislocation of society throughout the world, in particular in the poorest areas which is the greatest injustice.

Many measures have been taken for which the Government must be given credit. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Eamon Ryan, compared the position in Ireland with that pertaining in other countries, including the United States. Despite the recession, the evidence stacks up that we have taken this issue as seriously as the country's finances allow us. Home insulation schemes have been introduced, for example, and policies have been adopted on combined heat and power, micro-generation and renewable energies. While more needs to be done, a myriad of companies and research projects regard these initiatives as an opportunity to create employment and to improve our balance of payments. Work is being done on this issue and many projects are in the pipeline. Electric vehicles, which featured recently in news reports, is one such example.

It is important, in referring to good ideas and initiatives, that we also inject into this debate an overview of the current position. Industrial society is rapidly consuming the necessary physical prerequisites for its existence. If this process is not arrested, changed or adapted to, difficulties will inevitably arise and we will be asked to explain the reason we did not see them coming. The evidence is available and all of us, as representatives of communities, must take it seriously. Managing the predicted collapse, one for which there is good evidence, which will be a consequence of demand for energy suddenly outstripping supply, is a major responsibility.

In recent days, Conor Pope and others in The Irish Times have been trying to explain and rationalise the increase in the price of energy. The inevitable tension between demand and supply is growing apace. It is, therefore, imperative that before this tension overwhelms us and becomes impossible to manage, we have in place incentives to live more simply and reasons to be satisfied with a manageable and sustainable level of energy use. Rather than worrying about this requirement, we need to embrace it in the same way we embraced decimalisation and the euro. What we did in those cases was woke up in the morning, faced the reality and made the best of it. As a result, we had the Celtic tiger and so forth. In other words, we can take advantage of this change. To do otherwise would be to try to resist the inevitable.

I was pleased to have been present for part of last night's debate when I heard Deputies propose some good ideas. Deputy Doyle reported on the important progress made by the Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security and referred to transport and energy generation. I would like the joint committee to place greater emphasis on food. The empty shelves caused by the aviation crisis serve as a warning that energy and food go together. Deputy Deenihan referred to Tarbert, while Deputy McHugh focused on space heating, Chancellor Angela Merkel's hydrogen ideas, an interconnector and the export of energy. While all these issues are important, contributions to this debate should include an overview.

I am sorry I did not have the opportunity to listen to Deputy Coveney's contribution, as I am sure he addressed the issue in a comprehensive manner. When I listened to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, I thanked God for the level of energy at the Cabinet table. The Minister pointed out that three tablespoons of oil is the equivalent of eight human hours of work and we are consuming ten pints of oil per person per day. The use of these figures and this imagery suddenly makes the position very stark.

It has been worked out that the energy lifestyle that is considered normal, a basic right and part of the American dream is equivalent to having approximately 150 slaves working 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Slavery may have been abolished 200 years ago but we must thank God we have oil as some people could be otherwise tempted to argue that slavery is preferable to the alternative. We are living in a bubble as regards energy use and a transition, to use a mild term, is required.

While I am pleased to note some people are present in the Gallery, this debate is of such importance that one would expect the Gallery to be packed. One of the challenges Deputies face is to make proceedings in the House gripping. The transition to which I refer is a little like a game of football. We are in half time and once the second half commences, everything will change. For this reason, we must put in place the necessary tools and mechanisms to play the second half and support those who are providing the essential services that will help us to play the second half. I refer, in particular, to those in the food industry who are trying to introduce combined heat and power to allow them to stay in business because their Dutch competitors are already using this technology as well as those who are trying to secure connections to the grid. Something of a catch-22 scenario has arisen because the popularity of wind technology has caused a backlog. As with the queues at the sea ports caused by people trying to get ferries in recent days, we need to tackle the queue for connections to the grid.

Under the current price structure, organic food is considered to be more expensive than non-organic food. When energy prices catch up on us, as they did in 2008 when prices peaked, I predict organic food will be cheaper than energy intensive, industrial production. We must be ready for this eventuality and open our minds sufficiently to anticipate a new price structure, a new energy reality and a new way of life. The challenge for all of us, to use the words of Mahatma Ghandi, is to live simply so that others can simply live.

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