Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Work can be done on the advisory council in the course of the passage of this legislation. I do not think the Deputy intended to do so, but I would not dismiss representatives of State agencies, for example, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, Teagasc and the ESRI. These bodies are all involved in energy policy. They have really excellent people who are doing huge work for the State in terms of bringing forward the kind of policies, the Deputy may be surprised to hear, that he is talking about himself. They are very strong agencies and should be on that advisory council. There will be room for other voices, as there should be. I urge the Deputy to ensure, in the course of the passage of the legislation, that he raises the kind of issues that he has raised here, and that he continues to raise them in the context of the broader energy policy area, as I have invited him again in respect of the White Paper.

We want to have all the inputs. That is why I have not been prepared to exclude anything from our debate on energy policy. That issue comes up again later on in relation to some of the energy sources.

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