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

I share Deputy Colreavy's concerns on the need for joined-up thinking and the need to put a plan in place. My predecessor, the former Minister, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, worked very hard on a bilateral agreement with the United Kingdom that did not come to fruition. It is off the agenda now. A good deal of focus went into that at the time. Anyway, the White Paper is an opportunity to pursue the agenda of the three main pillars, namely, security of supply, competitiveness, and - this relates to Deputy Colreavy's second point - self-sufficiency over a period. As I have said before, we have to learn from the mistakes of the past.

Mistakes were made in the approach by the private sector regarding what went on in the midlands, such as the forward planning announcements of vast numbers of turbines without consulting the community. If any lesson can be learned from that, it should be that we should be big and mature enough to put up our hands. If we are to have an energy supply challenge, we will need to develop the grid in a mature and responsible way, in consultation with communities.

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