Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I meant no disrespect to the Deputy. It is conventional to provide this type of background information; not everybody is as knowledgeable about REFIT and the subsidy to the industry as is Deputy Pringle. I did no more than elucidate that point.

I do not disagree with what the Deputy said, but his expectation for an indigenous industry is somewhat exaggerated. I agree with the general thrust of his contribution in terms of the capacity of this area to make a contribution to our electricity and heating needs and to contribute to rural development and the creation of jobs in rural areas. However, in all fairness, one of the reasons I wanted to explain how REFIT works is that there may be an assumption by some people that all it requires is the press of a switch and we will have a biomass industry. As stated in my reply all of this involves a subsidy and people should understand that. I also stated that the tariff will range from 8.5 cent to 15 cent. That is a consideration. The net point as far as the Deputy is concerned is that this matter is being progressed. It has been with the relevant DG of the EU for some time and I expect a decision on the matter in the next couple of months.

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