Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

The point is that we have an advantage, coming a little bit late, in that we can start by adopting what is already international best practice. In Germany, 25% of energy comes from renewable sources, locally controlled in many instances. There are hundreds of thousands of jobs connected with it. We in Ireland are probably unique in a global sense in terms of our wave energy potential. There are about ten firms that various Government Departments are funding in this area. They need to be brought under Government control. The Government should buy them out, buy the intellectual property rights, and employ the people to develop the ideas to the next stage on the model. This development requires millions of euro. That is why even big companies such as Pelamis, Wavebob, Oceanlink, and Aquamarine have gone into receivership. Private industry is not capable of developing this potential. It needs to be brought in under the ESB, perhaps, or another area, to look at how we can harness what could be one of the most exciting international developments in renewable energy off our coast.

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