Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Teachta as ucht a teachtaireacht dearfa agus guím Nollaig shona air fosta.

Work on the development of a definitive energy policy is continuing. More than 1,240 written submissions were received arising from the public consultation process by the deadline of the end of July last. The Department is continuing to consider these submissions and engaging, through a series of seminars, with citizens and interested stakeholders, to ensure all views are heard and understood. It is also seeking to ensure that the assumptions on which the final policy paper will be written are tested and accurate so as to produce a dynamic and responsive evidence based framework, which will allow us to achieve a balance between sustainability, security and competitiveness challenges and opportunities.

Our overarching energy policy objective is to ensure secure and sustainable supplies of competitively priced energy to all consumers. While fossil fuels will remain part of the energy mix for some time, progress is being made towards increasing the share of renewable energy. The 2009 EU renewable energy directive set Ireland a legally binding 16% target from renewable sources by 2020, to be achieved through electricity, heat and transport.

The REFIT schemes underpin the development of a range of renewable electricity technologies, including hydro, biomass combustion, biomass combined heat and power, landfill gas and onshore wind. To date, wind energy has been the most cost-effective renewable technology in the electricity market, contributing most towards the achievement of the 2020 target. Work on the design of future incentives for renewable generation will commence next year. Any incentives will ensure maximum value for the electricity consumer and an appropriate return to project developers.

It should also be noted that the building regulations support the uptake of renewable heat. The draft bioenergy plan recommends the introduction from 2016 of a renewable heat incentive for larger heat users to change to renewable source heating solutions. In the transport sector, the biofuels obligation scheme and grants for purchasing electric vehicles underpin renewable energy deployment.

See this speech in context