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

I agree entirely with Deputy Colreavy that if we are to open a new traded sector in green energy, the benefit must redound to the Irish nation. I could not agree more and that is what I have been explaining since I got on my feet this morning. This is the reason painstaking attention must be devoted to negotiating an intergovernmental agreement because unless there is benefit to Ireland, there will not be an agreement. In fairness, I believe this is an advance on Deputy Colreavy's position. The position of some of his party colleagues, including in the midlands, is that they are opposed to selling energy to the Brits.

I have tried to explain before that I cannot see the difference between trying to sell them beef or tomatoes or briquettes and selling them energy. I know that no responsibility in our parliamentary and governance system attaches to individual Deputies. Any night one tunes into "Tonight with Vincent Browne" one will hear them talking nonsense-----

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