Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

A couple of acres does not make a ranch; the amount is not significant.

Of Ireland's approximately 12 million acres of agricultural land, no more than 10,000 acres is devoted to that crop. While I do not have the figures to hand, the acreage is small. My point is that the circumstances are right at present. Were the prices of oil, petrol and diesel to continue to escalate in the manner I envisage, a major contract can be formed with the Government as an intermediary. I do not expect the Government to be involved at the coalface but an environment can be created in which the market will pay farmers - that is the only way it will work - in order that processors will be able to manufacture and process that crop into an oil that can drive machines and motors nationwide. However, we have not arrived at that stage yet.

I have heard Green Party and Fianna Fáil people talk about the grants that are available to establish some of the other crops to which I will refer later. Some of the aforementioned crops are extraordinarily slow-growing and it takes a long time, two or three years in some cases, for them to mature. At public meetings, I often hear that in some cases, a couple of thousand euro per hectare may be available to plant such crops and then wait for a couple of years for them to reach their harvest date. If this is true and if the grants are as flaithiúil as the Minister of State suggests, many thousands of farmers will sign up, particularly given how farm incomes have gone in the past two or three years. In the main, most crops one can grow for bio-fuel will be grown on arable land. I cannot envisage many of them being grown on poor quality ground, which excludes a great portion of the western seaboard. I have a benchmark in this regard, in that if one was unable in years gone by to grow a good crop with a good tonnage of sugar beet, one will not be able to grow these crops, and the Minister of State knows where those areas are located.

Irrespective of where such crops are grown, a number of factors will influence whether this sector will takes off, as would a crop of wheat, barley or whatever else. We are light years away from such a take-off at present. I acknowledge the experiments that have been carried out all prove that engines will run on the by-products without difficulty. Moreover, they are cleaner and I understand the power they generate in engines is as good, if not better, than that achieved with fossil fuels. However, a problem arises in respect of guaranteed markets or almost guaranteed markets, none of which exists at present. Some processors of oilseed rape and other crops sign yearly contracts, which is somewhat similar to what the vegetable growers of north County Dublin used to do. Ultimately, however, for this to be a runner, a much more watertight relationship between farmers and processors must be established and this must be overseen by a Department to ensure it works. Were Members to have this debate in four or five years' time, so much ground will be lost vis-À-vis our European neighbours that it would be almost impossible to pick up the slack.

I have no idea how much longer the world's oil wells will continue pumping and, moreover, I genuinely believe that no one else does either. It all depends on when one hears of the evaluation or assessment taking place and on who gives it and from where they come. While some suggest the oil wells are likely to run dry as early as ten or 20 years' time, others will predict it will last for 100 years. However, all Members are aware that as the global economy develops and the global population increases, the need for fuel to power industry, cars and homes obviously will increase as years go by.

I refer to an important issue in this debate. I understand that an obligation to use a fuel mix containing 4% of bio-fuels at the petrol pumps will come into effect within a couple of months. However, I understand that Ireland does not have the capacity to provide that 4% at present. Consequently, if this obligation is imposed by the legislation, I assume someone will begin to import it from countries with a lower cost base. Such trade obviously will be from outside the European Union circle and a surcharge should be imposed to facilitate the monitoring of such imports because, were it ever possible to get cheap imports, even temporarily, it immediately would result in a lessening of pressure on Ireland to grow its own fuel. I do not know what will happen between now and the implementation date, which I understand to be in August. Although I agree with the principle of what has been proposed, I do not believe that nearly enough work or thought has been put into the proposal to make it a runner.

If this is played correctly, I see great opportunities in this regard. While everyone is talking about smart ways of doing things, as well as smart fuels and smart energies, now is the time for the real smartness. Regardless of the Government that will implement this measure, be it the present Administration or its replacement, I will know this policy is working when I see halls full of farmers nationwide seeking to enter contracts with processors to grow those crops. I then will know we are winning but that point has not yet been reached. While I acknowledge that great interest has been generated, farmers are not yet signing on the dotted line because no one knows what will happen in a year or two if the world price of oil fluctuates up and down. While that happens, there will be trouble in this regard.

I now wish to discuss electric cars and welcome the decision by the ESB and others to put in place power points around the country. The major problem will be similar to that associated with the aforementioned car I saw in Brussels. This will require a huge leap of faith by many people. Incidentally, without knowing anything about the new models, I do not doubt that the performance of such cars will be perfect. I expect they will meet the highest safety standards and why would they not? The major problem will be psychological. People sitting in their cars in Eyre Square, Galway, on a Sunday who contemplated driving to Dublin that day would ask themselves whether, by so doing they could be sure to be able to return home to Galway that evening. That is what everyone will be talking about. While cost will not be a secondary factor, it will not be the most significant factor. The primary criterion will be the security of people's time on the road and their ability to return. While the Minister of State may believe this is not the case, she should believe me.

Drivers will be obliged to depend on a battery top-up charge and there will be uncertainty until people experience doing so. They must be able to see for themselves that it is possible to pull in at Maynooth or Kinnegad to get their top-ups without being obliged to wait two hours for it or without experiencing a breakdown or problems with the electric charge on the day that left them high and dry on the side of the road. Even if such events were to happen only once or twice to people, it would be somewhat akin to having the misfortune of taking a train that broke down on the first day one availed of the service. In such cases, one would be unlikely to use it again for a while. It is against this background that a huge job remains to be done in this regard. The car manufacturers must put a great deal of effort into this initiative but it will work. It eventually will come, provided that everyone does the sensible thing, which has not always been the case in the past.

I noticed that no Exchequer costs are associated with the Bill. Perhaps the Minister of State or someone else might reply to my question. I do not know why there would be no financial cost. I suppose it is a regulatory Bill more than anything else and I assume it has more to do with the obligation to use bio-fuel than it has to do with the introduction, growing and production of bio-fuel crops, but that will not come cheaply. Whenever one must change a significant culture, one must address many psychological levels. It will take a certain amount of time.

I wish the Government well and hope that whoever is in government next will take this matter seriously, as it will pose a greater problem for whoever has the good fortune to be sitting in the Chamber in five or ten years time. It will not be because oil wells will have run out, but because the cost of the oil coming out of them will be more expensive. If a country like ours, with a population of 4 million that is increasing every year, is to have fuel security, we will want to be less dependent on imported fuels as against windmills, wave energy and bio-fuels.

This matter has nothing to do with the cost as a nation. Were we able to substitute it, the balance of payments would be a better job altogether. Some day, we might get some satisfaction for the €22 billion that has been sunk into Anglo Irish Bank. If that sort of money was available to do what we are discussing, what a wonderful job we could do.

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