Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

This is probably the answer I was most afraid the Minister might give. The question I asked was whether his Department had calculated or received any calculations from anybody under its aegis estimating the increase that would be required in the PSO levy to accommodate 800 MW of onshore wind, and the same figure for onshore wind. He was able to give me the figure for onshore wind, €36 million, which is acceptable and there is a clear economic case for this. What he was not able to give the House was a figure for the additional cost of offshore wind. The best he could say was that he would ask the Regulator to further quantify this. That answer gives me great concern, because it indicates clearly that the Minister has embarked on this policy without calculating or estimating the cost, and he has admitted that.

I have had work done on this by some independent energy economists, which I shall publish in due course, and it is estimated that the cost will be in the region of €2 billion over the 15-year period, €0.5 billion to pay for the energy and €1.5 billion in pure premiums or subsidies. It is very hard to see why there is a case for this because if we can do this onshore, then we do not need to do it offshore. There is no environmental case for it if it can all be done onshore, since this is much cheaper, and we know the Minister has calculated the cost of it. It seems there is no economic case, either, and it would appear the Minister has not calculated that economic case. Perhaps he might tell the House why he has embarked on this policy without calculating up front the costs and benefits. He does not know the costs, and it would appear that the benefits are nil because this could all be done onshore, in any case, as it should be.

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