Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I have made the point. Serious questions need to be answered, and Dr. Anthony White raised some serious questions about whether the significant investment of €3.8 billion we are putting in in a particular area of industrial wind and so on is the best place to invest it. We need to answer those questions very quickly. When the Minister says he wants to consult with all those who are interested, what is he proposing in that regard because there is a lot of stakeholders and people interested? I note with annoyance and anger that it costs €1,000 to attend some of these big conferences.

Could we have a conference that ordinary people interested in this area could attend to discuss these matters?

A proposal put to me by people interested in afforestation, and which I believe is implemented in many parts of Europe, is for district energy heating systems and local energy co-operatives. Under the proposal, there would not be a big, centralised, industrialised model; rather, one would determine the extent to which specific areas and towns could generate their own energy, with some assistance from the State in terms of land and local community support, potentially developing local employment and resulting in much greater economic benefits. Could the Minister comment on that?

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