Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is very disappointing. The bottom line is that the production of biofuels should not undermine food security. There is no doubt that the biofuels mandates are having major negative effects on food production. It is almost as if there is a conflict between the production of food for the world's poor and fuel consumption by the world's rich. It is very disappointing that Ireland regards the 7% cap as being as low as is achievable and that we are supporting it. Why are we not continuing to support a cap of 5%? The merits of such a cap were borne out at the Mary Robinson conference on climate justice which Ireland hosted. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, when he met representatives of the NGOs, certainly gave the impression that they had made a compelling case for not applying the higher rate of 7%. We are aware that a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Belgium and Luxembourg, have committed to having a cap of 5%. Italy has lowered its cap from 7% to 6%. A cap of 5% is advocated by the European Commission, but the Presidency is supporting a cap of 7%. My question is on policy coherence between the two Departments.

See this speech in context