Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the content of the Deputy's remarks and his broad support for the build out of greater renewable capacity in this economy. He is correct that it is an issue of security of supply. It would be sensible to use a valuable indigenous resource capable of contributing to energy generation. We are moving towards our 2020 targets which is 40% electricity generated from renewables. It is an ambitious target but we think we can achieve it.

An ability to guarantee future pricing is more complex. No one knows where price volatility will take us in the future. This is one of the most volatile commodities in the world market. It is dependent on geopolitical events, on the climate in the Middle East and dependent, as the Deputy said, on the strength of the euro purchasing power against the dollar. If one had nothing else to say for renewables, one could say it is a prudent insurance policy that we should utilise our indigenous renewable resources to optimum effect.

See this speech in context