Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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94. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he is confident that Ireland will reach its 16% target for renewable energy by 2020; the measures that are being taken by his Department to ensure this target will be met; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31763/15]

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Is the Minister of State confident that Ireland will reach its 16% target for renewable energy by 2020 and will he outline the measures that are being taken by the Department to ensure the target will be met?

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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The 2009 EU renewable energy directive set Ireland a legally binding target of meeting 16% of our energy requirements from renewable sources by 2020. To meet this target, Ireland is committed to meeting 40% of electricity demand, 12% of heating and 10% of transport power from renewable sources. Provisional figures provided by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, for 2014 show that 8.6% of Ireland's overall energy requirement was met by renewable energy. More specifically, the SEAI has calculated that 22.6% of electricity, 6.7% of heat and 5.2% of transport were met from renewable sources. While the progress to date is encouraging, significant challenges remain, especially in the heat and transport sectors. Meeting our renewable electricity targets will require the delivery of critical grid infrastructure and the construction of additional renewable electricity generation capacity.

Regarding renewable electricity, the Renewable Energy Feed In Tariff, REFIT, schemes underpin the development of a range of technologies, including hydro, biomass combustion, biomass combined heat and power, landfill gas and onshore wind. These schemes will be closed to new applications at the end of this year. In terms of renewable heat, in addition to existing measures such as Part L of the building regulations, the 2014 draft bioenergy plan recommended the introduction of a renewable heat incentive for larger heat users to change to heating solutions that produce heat from renewable sources.

On 31 July, the Department launched two separate consultations on new support schemes, one for renewable electricity and one for a proposed renewable heat incentive. While the initial phase of both consultations closed on 18 September 2015, there will be two further opportunities to contribute at key stages in the design of any new scheme. Subject to Government approval and state aid clearance from the European Commission, the new schemes will become available in 2016.

As regards renewable transport, Ireland aims to meet its target mainly through the use of sustainable biofuels. Increasing usage of electric vehicles will also make a contribution. Further increases to the obligation rate in the biofuels obligation scheme will be required in the context of achieving our 2020 target, and the Minister intends to initiate a consultation on this over the coming weeks.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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I note that, in 1990, we were 98% dependent on imported fossil fuels and, in 2013, we were still importing 90% of our energy needs. Hydro power counts for only 0.5% of our energy and other renewables 6%. Even though there is an increase in gas power, which generates lower emissions, nevertheless it is still a fossil fuel.

There are reports that we will not achieve the 2020 targets, and yet the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland report tells us that clean renewable energy has saved Ireland €1 billion in fossil fuel imports. The point I would make is we cannot afford to miss the 2020 targets because we will face significant fines if we do.

My question is about the new technologies, such as offshore wind energy. Does the Minister of State accept that offshore wind energy can deliver significant amounts of the renewable energy shortfall for Ireland?

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is correct in her observation about our reliance on fossil fuels and the statistics back up that observation. We import coal from Poland. We import coal on ships from Colombia. That is the reality of the world we live in.

With the price of oil being so low at present, the consumer-led consumption of that product from an economic point of view is great in that it is cheaper for consumers, but at the same time we still must keep the focus on renewables. That is why we must be as proactive as ever, through the university sector, in the progression of offshore wind, hydro and tidal wave. While that research and development is going on within the universities and they work closely with industry, we must up the ante. I note one particular submission to the White Paper is looking at floating turbines off the west coast. We must be ambitious.

A big focus of this House over the past four and half years has been on the economy and trying to get us out of the mess we were in. We must look at new technologies, how quickly technology is changing, and be ambitious and creative around that engagement between the university sector and industry. Government must support that in whatever way possible.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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The word is "urgency", and the other important word is "creativity". If we can bring the two together, then I think we might see some progress. According to new figures published, we are more reliant on imported energy than almost every other country in the European Union. Among the new technologies is wave technology, and wastewater is also a resource.

I accept that wind technology and wind farms are controversial. In that regard, I will go back to my favourite island, which, in 1986, had a pilot project using wind turbines with a German firm because both the ESB and the powers that be did not want to know. The project, which went on for ten years, produced wind energy which they sold in to the national grid as well. It cut down diesel consumption, but then the ESB came along with the underground cable. It is an example of where a new technology was community driven. It was community led and it was very much a community approach. There is a need to be more creative when it comes to those issues.

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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I agree with the Deputy's last point about urgency and creativity.

We must be bold at a European level, and while we were unsuccessful in the bilateral between the UK and Ireland, France is also an option in terms of linking into the European grid. If we can provide offshore floating wind turbines, as an example, we should be examining and harnessing that potential. My colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, is in fisheries, and there are proposals around Ireland's ocean wealth. Within that there is the ongoing research, urgency and creativity around what we can use off our west coast, and off our east coast, for that matter.