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

I do not know where to start in answering the Deputy. I take him at face value when he says he is in favour of building up renewables capacity in the economy. In so far as that capacity is meeting domestic need, I assume it meets his approval, provided it complies with good building standards.

With regard to developing an export trade in this area, I appeal to the Deputy to stop using emotive language about our generating electricity for the Brits. If I were the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and came into the House to say I had got a new contract in Britain for beef, Deputy Boyd Barrett would not be railing against me for selling cattle to the Brits. I am completely confused as to why he rails against me for seeking to create the environment for, and to facilitate the emergence of, trade in an indigenous resource. In Ireland we can generate more energy than we need and will do so provided we can find a market for it. One cannot, broadly speaking, store electricity, so if one is going to generate more than one needs one has to be able to sell it to someone who does need it. Happily in these circumstances, the people of Britain do require renewable energy and we are in a position to sell it to them. As a principle I cannot for the life of me see why Deputy Boyd Barrett would want to interfere with that. We can talk about planning and all the rest, but in terms of the concept I would go home happy this evening if I felt I had persuaded Deputy Boyd Barrett that, for a tiny island economy, selling things to outsiders is a good idea.

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