Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. I do not have a problem with governments not investing in fossil fuels in future but there are few issues of which we should be mindful. According to reports, it seems that the rate of coal consumption last year was one of the highest ever, so despite what we are trying to do in this country, other countries do not seem to be adhering to such standards. Germany is constantly opening lignite mines and Vietnam is opening a coal mine every week. If we do something, other countries must do it as well.

Bord na Móna will move away from peat after 2030. I met the company's representatives in the audiovisual room a few weeks ago when they gave a presentation and, unfortunately, 1,100 or 1,200 workers will be affected. We must ensure they are protected, as the only plan I could see was that they would be pensioned off bit by bit. When the hard questions were put to those representatives about where people would work or how families in the midlands would be affected, no answers were forthcoming. Government plans must take in electricity generation in Lanesborough and Shannonbridge, which may go to biomass, but we must be sure of those solutions. We cannot just knock off a tap overnight.

I listened with interest to the comments about where the country is going. I am not sure we ever had a plan. I have heard people saying we can have trees but they do not grow overnight. Unfortunately, growing willow on bogs has not been successful; it is such a bad crop that we would need the whole of County Roscommon to feed Lanesborough, and that will not happen. We must be realistic. People give out about farmers in Ireland but they are efficient. We are the most efficient producers of beef in Europe and Europe is a more efficient producer than the rest of the world because of concentrates used elsewhere. We must be mindful of that.

Another aspect that we need to perfect is solar power. I know things have moved on and have got better, but we need to own up to another thing. Government aid for peat will finish next year. I have never been madly in favour of subsidising anything because I believe in the real world we have to produce products without too many subsidies. We are subsidising wind. Wind power needs to start standing on its own, as does solar power and all the rest. Otherwise the price of electricity will go up.

We are a manufacturing and exporting country. Let us consider the west of Ireland and companies like McHale that is sending machinery throughout the world. It is a great company that started from a small shed. It cannot afford rising costs. We are competing with countries that have nuclear and other types of electricity. We have discussed interconnectors and so on but we need to be mindful that the price of electricity has to be affordable for householders and businesses.

We need to consider the farming community. People refer to the national herd and so on. If we are honest about it, a total of 300,000 people are involved, as many as are employed in multinationals in this country. We have to protect that side of rural Ireland. We cannot simply turn off the key. People cannot live on fresh air, although some people might think that is possible.

We need to consider where there are alternatives. People referred to the incinerator in Dublin, to which there were many objections. Where people live in large built-up areas they have to take the brunt of that as well. We cannot simply say the west of Ireland will produce every tree and will have every wind turbine and solar farm. We cannot simply say that everyone else can do whatever they want but they will not have to put up with any problems. No one is saying they will not take their share of these new systems, but there should be an even distribution throughout the country.

While I have no problem with the Bill or with Deputy Pringle, we need to be mindful of what other countries are doing and of how to save jobs. Bord na Móna is one company that comes to mind for 2030. We cannot wish everyone good luck in 2029. Housing estates were built by Bord na Móna down through the years. While people might not like all of this, the reality is that those small economies, for example, the butcher shop and the local grocer in the area, lived off an economy built around that. We need to ensure that Government investment down the road is appropriate.

I hear the view that we will be harvesting trees and that we will have woodchip and so on. That will not happen in seven or eight years. We need to be realistic about it. We need to plan for the future if we are going in different ways.

The Government should lead by example. Let us consider the likes of Galway. There are no plans for electrification in through the city. What about the likes of the train system and Dublin Bus? Whether we like it, for every ten buses we buy today that are diesel-powered, we will be buying eight if they are electric and diesel combined. We will need more money in the kitty for all of this. That is the debate that needs to take place; we need to know where we are going.

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