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

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this. I remember the song "Leaving on a Jet Plane" but now we are going to be using jet engines to try to keep the lights on. We might not agree with everything the Minister is doing but I do not think there is a person in the country who wants to see the lights going out. Any port in a storm, that is what we are left with at the moment. It is ironic though, as was highlighted earlier, that under this emergency legislation the Minister can disapply the habitats directive and EIA regulations with his buddies in Europe. They can do one thing one day but it was different two years ago when Bord na Móna had a court ruling under the same habitats directive. We have raised it with the Minister many times that there is a massive amount of tree bark being exported that could be used for producing electricity in Shannonbridge and Lanesborough, but nothing is possible. Then, when the Government wants to do something itself, everything is possible. That is one thing that I just do not admire about this legislation.

We have to come to reality. We have followed nearly everything Europe has told us down through the years and we have become like the birds in the nest - we do not have anything. We are reliant on the gas and on nearly every single commodity coming in. We are told it might be dirty or it might be this or that. Ironically enough, I am after reading on my phone in the past half hour that Germany is taking down a full farm of wind turbines and opening a coalmine under it. That is fairly unusual for a country that is in the same Europe as we are. We have to face up to realities in times of need and times of war. We will need gas for a long time into the future. We might not like an LNG terminal or putting the gas back down in Kinsale again, but we have to make sure we do that. There are a few things we need for our country. We must keep people warm, keep the lights on and keep food. Those are the most basic necessities for anybody in any country.

There is opportunity being lost as well.

Farmers will move on the solar panels, which will be a huge help. There needs to be a system whereby they will get paid for putting back into the grid. They are well used to getting charged the opposite way.

I understand there is €3 million or €4 million a year in the budget for the next three or four years for anaerobic digestion. The Minister will correct me if I am wrong on this. That would not build even one anaerobic digester because they cost €8 million to €12 million to build. Again, we are relying on the private sector to act. We will have to go through the whole planning process if they are to be located anywhere near a town, as I have seen happen time and again.

I heard the Minister saying the other day that he is going to put pipes through Dublin and heating infrastructure here and there. He would have to be a magician to get pipes into some parts of Dublin, given the number that are there already. I do not know when that will happen. To be frank about it, I think it is a dream.

I cannot understand what is happening with the Derrybrien wind farm. Senator McDowell, who is a former Attorney General, has spoken about this. There are solutions that can be found to ensure it is put back up and running. I have no problem with the Minister putting the jet engine in Shannonbridge but he should have looked at biomass being used in those places. It would be a solution. What we have to do now is bring bits together and have different ways of generating electricity to make sure we do not leave people with the lights out.

I am fully behind the likes of offshore wind down the road but I think the Minister is going ahead of himself. However, I may be wrong. If offshore wind is the solution down the road, that is great. People are talking about hydrogen and one would swear it was around the corner. It is €22 a litre for the hydrogen that is being put into the buses in Dublin at the moment. You would want to be a millionaire to drive a vehicle that runs on hydrogen. That is the price of it. We are going to put in 17 l of it and it is pressure you put it in on because we do have the gear to fill the bus fully. That is the reality. It has to be done at night and it takes a long time. When we consider all the things people are talking about, we need first to analyse what can be done and then how feasible it is. The price of these buses, at €800,000, is twice as dear as an ordinary diesel or electric bus, which costs €400,000. We need a bigger budget if we are going down that road. I am not against it but I am saying you have to dance according to your music or the money you have in your pocket.

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