John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I am still awaiting the evidence. We are in business, employ a lot of people and know exactly the high cost of electricity we are paying at present. Small companies are now subsidising multinational companies in this country. Can the Minister explain that? That is the difficulty. Small companies are paying an excessive charge and are being penalised by comparison with those in Northern Ireland. How come we cannot have the same charges in both jurisdictions? How come the prices in the North are so low?

A realistic balance must be struck between real economic costs and wind energy options. The environmental and economic benefits of wind energy are not as great as the Minister and other proponents claim. We must have a prudent economic approach to any proposal for further significant national investment in wind farms. Wind turbines have a short life and require maintenance, which costs money. The maintenance and retrofit costs of offshore wind turbines are very significant. It is now time for the Commission for Energy Regulation to step up to the mark and do its job on energy capacity and energy asset planning. We must avoid the disaster of light touch regulation, which we had, in the energy sector. I call on the regulator to exercise its powers decisively and bring some economic sanity to the energy debate, particularly with regard to the amount of money we invest in wind farms.

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