Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have an opportunity to speak on this issue. The first thing we should recognise is that everybody has a contribution to make in reducing carbon emissions. We have to face the facts and face reality. To refuse to accept reality is to go in the wrong direction and if we do so we will be liable to really serious carbon charges in the future, which will accelerate much more rapidly than we think.

We must consider the alternatives. The biggest single contribution that can be made to carbon reduction is a change to the means used to generate electricity. There are a variety of ways to do that which are carbon-free including wind, wave, solar and nuclear, although I do not agree with using nuclear energy and have never been in favour of it. There is also biomass and a number of others.

I will go very quickly through them. The best and safest method is wind energy. We have a lot of wind in this country and plenty of places to put wind turbines. Many communities do not accept the sight of wind turbines, but many in other counties do. They are making a reasonable contribution to the generation of electricity at the moment. We frequently hear of the considerable research on wave energy. However, that has gone on for 20 years and we have not yet seen the results to any great extent. However, with wind energy, big results can be achieved in a short time.

Some people have proposed biomass to replace coal burning in Moneypoint, County Clare. That is not a realistic option I am afraid. It would require the planting of biomass in at least half the country and we would need to import the other half just to keep the one station going. In addition, that happens to be the biggest polluting station with 1,000 MW currently. Taking that 1,000 MW out of the system and replacing it with clean generation would mark a serious effort. If that is multiplied by five or six, we are into self-sufficiency.

We need to recognise that various types of trees have a positive contribution to make to carbon sequestration. For example, the unfortunate and much maligned Sitka spruce is the best with up to four times the capacity of an ash, oak or one of the other broadleaf species. We need to interplant between broadleaf and spruce trees to give ourselves the best options.

The next method is simple. I have shifted over and rely heavily on a wood-burning stove, which has significant beneficial effects. However, somebody was happy to produce a report in the past six months or so to the effect that the burning of wood allows particles into the air that cause serious congestion problems for persons with asthmatic conditions and so on. The people who produced that report were not necessarily physicians; they were more likely to be proponents of another type of energy generation.

The use of electric cars will make a major contribution to achieving the results we need. It is where the electricity for that transport is generated that brings it to its most satisfactory conclusion. We need to bring the two issues together - the generation and the use of electric vehicles. Given the bigger and heavier engine requirements in agriculture and construction generally, it will probably need to come from something like hydrogen as an electric engine of 200 or 300 horsepower, which is required in today's modern machinery, is very much in its infancy and I have concerns about the battery for that.

Solar energy is an option. It is not big in generating electricity. Five acres generates 1 MW whereas one wind turbine can generate up to 5 MW of electricity. There is a significant difference in the space taken up.

We need to acknowledge how the farming community has managed the environment over the years. Everything that grows absorbs carbon. Many of the things that grow such as trees are carbon neutral. They only emit what they have absorbed over their growing life. I can speak more on that some other time, but I do not have time today.

I support the Government's plan. In recent years, I have attended incisive meetings in my constituency and others where I heard people with contrary views to mine. The predictions I made ten years ago are coming through faster than I thought and certainly faster than many of my opponents thought.

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