Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)

The green energy sector has lost a little bit of focus owing to the current major economic turmoil around the world, and possibly due to the demise of the Green Party in this House as well. It remains an untapped resource in Ireland. There were discussions in Britain about whether that country would look to Ireland to provide some of its energy from natural resources in future. Global energy security and global climate change remain a major issue.

I missed part of the Minister of State's answer. I think he mentioned the number of jobs that were created. Could he repeat that? How many jobs does the Government seek to create over the next five years? What level of investment does it plan to make in that time?

Concerns were expressed that some organisations, due to the reduction in their industries, have been able to enjoy benefits worth about €700 million from those carbon credits. That comes from the taxpayers' pockets, so the Minister of State might comment on that as well.

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