Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have to say I am very disappointed the debate is so short. I will try to raise as many issues as I can in a very short time. The first thing we need to do is progress offshore energy. There are a number of elements to this. We need fast, efficient and transparent administrative systems. We need to change the legal systems so decisions are made in good time. We also need to ensure community buy-in. I am concerned the community funds do not specify the geographic areas where the money should be spent. There is major concern in my constituency that the money will be spent away from the most affected communities. I want to touch on the importance of creating storage of electricity. Hydrogen is a very obvious example. We need to expedite this.

I notice in the Minister's statement that he is giving us three buses a day to the nearest town. The reality for those living where I live is that the vast majority of people do not want to go to the nearest town. They want to go to Galway because it has two universities, a hospital and major employment. What do we find? We find that people are using the buses but they have two main problems. One is that the buses are full by the time they are halfway to Galway on all of the major arterial routes, including Headford, Clarinbridge, Spiddal and Oughterard. Another issue is that it is hard to believe that in this day and age no bus leaves Galway for Clifden later than 6.10 p.m. It is absolutely incredible.

I am very concerned about the corporatisation of the ownership of land with regard to forestry. We could get the same amount of planting done by farmers if the incentives were there. We spent long enough trying to get our own land back not to give it away willy-nilly. I cannot understand why we cannot work with the farmers and farmer co-operatives to ensure the necessary planting.

The next point I would like to raise is the feed-in tariffs. Hundreds of people in my constituency, particularly in rural areas, are mad to sell solar power to the grid but they keep getting the push-off from the companies that have promised to give them a feed-in tariff. Then we speak about trying to persuade people to go green.

I understand charging systems will be put on the motorways. We should always watch the small print. On the news this morning, "main routes" were mentioned but this refers to motorways. The reality is that this means the counties of Sligo, Mayo, Roscommon, Leitrim, Donegal and Cavan will once again be excluded.

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