Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister mentions cost but when we start anything new, there will be a cost differential and we recognise this comes from scale, expertise and everything else. This technology is already up and running in other European countries on a large scale. The lack of facilities for biogas in this State demonstrate a lack of effort to date to drive this on. The focus has been completely on onshore wind, which has limitations because it is an intermittent source of energy. We may also have reached our potential in that regard. We need to start displacing fossil fuels with energy that will be there all the time. Biogas must be part of that plan.

The Minister mentioned cost but the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland estimates there is potential to create up to 3,000 jobs over the coming decades with biogas. That is not just Sinn Féin's argument and it is an important figure to remember. There is also the matter of farm waste. If a group of farmers are to do this, they must include the likes of the fertiliser in the project. Bord na Móna is looking into it.

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