Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Therefore, I am especially pleased, notwithstanding the unprecedented financial difficulties which the Government faces, that we are so early in our term of office, implementing this important initiative. The measures announced are designed to provide employment opportunities for those who have lost their jobs and it represents a first step in this Government's commitment to support the protection and creation of jobs.

My Department has critical contributions to make in regaining and enhancing our international competitiveness, supporting and generating employment and rebuilding Ireland's reputation on the international stage. The energy and communications sectors are pivotal to national competitiveness and to economic and social development.

The jobs initiative recognises the potential of labour intensive energy efficiency works to support additional jobs. Better Energy, which I launched yesterday, is a major step forward in the Government's energy efficiency retrofitting programme. The additional €30 million that the Minister for Finance announced will be allocated as part of the jobs initiative to this programme for 2011 represents doubling of the funding in the second half of this year. This extra funding will be matched by a further €30 million in private sector investment, helping to generate further economic activity of at least €60 million this year. As a result, an additional 2,000 jobs will be created in 2011, on top of the 3,800 jobs already supported by the existing budget allocation.

Energy efficiency measures are a good use of public moneys. They reduce energy bills thereby supporting competitiveness. They play an important role in meeting our climate change targets and they create valuable employment opportunities. In the light of energy price trends and growing concerns over security of supply considerations, the way we use energy is no longer simply a question of environmental responsibility but one of economic necessity.

There is great potential within every home, business and industry in Ireland to achieve significant financial savings through the installation of energy efficiency measures. Every euro spent by home owners and businesses on energy efficiency not only brings long term energy savings, but helps support jobs and indigenous companies. Ireland needs a strong green building sector, founded upon sustainable principles. The additional €30 million provided for Better Energy will help drive this agenda by building upon existing successful domestic grant programmes to take the scale of activity to a new level and in the process reward and incentivise efficiency and innovation.

In addition, the extra funding for energy efficiency has a crucial role to play in addressing the major global challenge of climate change. The new Better Energy programme represents an important milestone in the achievement of our 2020 national 20% energy saving target. The existing national energy efficiency action plan, which will be updated this year, identifies a gap to target of approximately 8,000 gigawatt hours, which effectively represents a distance to target of a quarter of the 20% national target. Better Energy is designed to be the main programme that will bridge the gap between now and 2020.

The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, in cooperation with the Department of public expenditure and reform when it is established, will consider the size of Exchequer funding for energy efficiency measures in future years. A transition is envisaged over time, with the active involvement of energy supply companies, energy service providers and the construction sector, to alternative non-Exchequer funded mechanisms that ensure more energy efficiency measures can be funded through Better Energy. My ambition is that by 2020, 1 million homes and buildings will have been upgraded, energy use reduced by 8,000 GWh, and a net societal benefit of €6 billion will have been generated.

Renewable energy also has major potential for sustainable jobs and economic investment in the longer term. We have made major progress in the drive to greater onshore wind energy generation. There is also major energy and enterprise potential in the offshore sector. I will work with the Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation, the Industrial Development Authority and Enterprise Ireland, as well as the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, to explore the economic potential of the offshore renewable energy resources of wind and wave. A particular focus over time will be the prospects for the export of renewable energy from Ireland to Britain. I will meet Secretary of State Mr. Huhne in the coming weeks for a bilateral discussion on the potential for such an export opportunity. The potential economic opportunity from developing the offshore renewable energy sector includes activities in maintenance services, operations, device testing, port infrastructure development, training and possible component manufacture. All these prospects will be explored.

Turning to the communications brief of the Department, smart ICT-based innovation and commercialisation is central to the economic and social vision articulated in the programme for Government. It is pleasing to acknowledge the presence of so many of the key multinational ICT companies based in Ireland. We must not rest on our laurels in this regard and I accept that a key element is that we put in place a national broadband infrastructure of world class standard. We need a better broadband infrastructure to continue to attract the cutting-edge, innovative industries needed to restore Ireland's economic prosperity and competitiveness. Availability of broadband services in all areas and a major enhancement in broadband speeds are, therefore, major priorities for the Government.

We are making good progress in this area. The latest market report from the Communications Regulator underlines the progress made with broadband provision in recent years. The report indicated that there were 1.6 million broadband subscribers at end of 2010. This figure includes mobile broadband and corresponds to a penetration rate of 35.6 subscribers per 100 of population or a household penetration rate of 52% in quarter four of 2010. Industry penetration is stronger at 83% of small and medium enterprises and 100% of large enterprises. The majority of broadband customers are also moving from basic broadband packages to higher speeds.

The most recent OECD report, which includes data up to June 2010, is also testament to the considerable improvement of recent years. It shows that the Irish broadband penetration rate over fixed lines has increased by 2.02% in the year to June 2010 which is above the OECD average of 1.72%. It also shows that Ireland had the fourth strongest per capita broadband subscription growth of the OECD countries ranked. With similar fast uptake of broadband noted in previous reports, Ireland has closed the gap on the OECD average. This improvement measures only the performance over fixed line connections; it excludes figures for mobile broadband, an area of exceptional performance by Ireland, with a 27% increase since December 2009 in customer numbers towards 600,000.

The next phase of modernisation and investment involving the more widespread availability of next generation access networks will be delivered primarily through private investment. The Department's role will focus on facilitating not only competition but collaboration, and subject to resource availability, making investment interventions in targeted cases of demonstrable market failure. I also underline the role that the broadband assets of the commercial State sector have to play in this regard. I am working on this matter with the Minister of State with responsibility for the NewERA project, Deputy O'Dowd. Our objective is that Ireland is provided with the high speed communications infrastructure links which will make the country a more competitive and attractive region for foreign direct investment and in the process leading to the increased employment which we so require.

Energy and communications are key elements that will underpin this Government's commitment to regaining and enhancing our international competitiveness, supporting the protection and creation of jobs, restoring order to our public finances, and rebuilding Ireland's reputation on the international stage. Tuesday's jobs initiative and yesterday's launch of Better Energy, with an additional €30 million provided for 2011, represent a down payment on these commitments. There will soon be just short of 6,000 workers in this area and Better Energy has the potential to create more jobs, improve the way we use energy as a nation, creating savings for homes and businesses alike, and to attract investment enabling the creation of a secure, sustainable and competitive economy.

The Government does not pretend that this initiative will solve the jobs problem. It will certainly improve matters and enhance vital services. It will further help to restore confidence. The key is the unremitting and collective focus the Government has on fixing the financial crisis so that the way can be paved over time to using our resources as we would wish in the interests of economic and social development.

The response of the dolly mixture that is the Opposition has been the usual combination of grandstanding and meaningless populist rhetoric. I am disappointed but not surprised at the Sinn Féin response. Sinn Féin is clearly revelling in the economic crisis into which our country has been plunged. The party believes that the worse things are, the better its prospects. It has not come up with a single workable solution that has not been plagiarised to the economic challenges that face us. It chops and changes and trims its policies one by one as they are exposed.

Achievements by the Government are always prophesied by Sinn Féin. One day the Government has reneged on restoring the minimum wage; the next day, "Ah sure, we knew its restoration was coming anyway." One day the Government is doing nothing about the interest rate on the bailout; the next day, "Ah sure, we all knew the interest rate would be reduced." What is the Government doing about the weather? "Ah sure, we all knew the weather would be good in May." Deputy Adams cannot really believe that we can grow jobs without a functioning banking system. Fianna Fáil knows it has about as much credibility on the economy as Osama bin Laden had on peace movements. The attitude of Fianna Fáil is: "We must pretend to be constructive but we do not know how. We must pretend to be constructive because we cannot be anything else, given the mess we left behind us." Fianna Fáil is shocked at the levy on pension funds and Fianna Fáil should know because it cleaned out the National Pensions Reserve Fund for its friends in Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide. These measure do not go far enough, according to Fianna Fáil. A spokesman for Fianna Fáil was asked what would the party do. Cloud computing was his answer. Cloud cuckoo land is more like it. It would be a small mercy if Fianna Fáil members restricted themselves to talking about something they know - like corporate donations - and stayed quiet on the economy for at least 40 years.

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