Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

It would be. It is a debate we have had at committee, which the Minister does not attend. The Joint Committees on Climate Change and Energy Security and on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources have debated the matter of super-subsidies, such as those of 14 cent and 27 cent per kilowatt hour which are twice the market price of energy, and whether such subsidies make sense. Can we be so sure gas prices will go so high so quickly that such subsidies make economic sense? Many people think they do not. For example, Bord Gáis is deliberately not going down that route because it does not think it makes economic sense. Many of the Minister's officials and people who work for other bodies say they do not agree with Government policy when it comes to super-subsidies. On-shore wind generators clustered in the right place and connected cheaply to the grid, particularly in the west, north-west and south-west of Ireland, make a great deal of sense and that is what we should pursue. We should do more or less what the Minister is doing in the communications area where he is taking a technology neutral approach and not giving extra-super-bumper-subsidies to the least efficient plant. That does not make sense.

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