Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail)

In welcoming the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, to the House, I congratulate him on his new appointment. It is an area with which he has a considerable amount of familiarity and no doubt he will do an excellent job as he has done in many other Departments.

This debate is welcome at this stage because I sense a considerable change in approach to the oil industry. The US President spoke about the fact that our society was addicted to oil in his recent state of the union address and that is a considerable shift. Recognising the role the Americans play throughout the world in setting the stage for what happens internationally, change is on the way, particularly given this statement from a US President with a significant interest in the oil industry. There is now a serious recognition that oil reserves will be depleted within a measurable timeframe.

There are many alternatives, some of which have been mentioned. Certainly the generation of energy from the tide is an area which needs to be researched and on which more money needs to be spent. This will have to come from Government level, rather than expecting the operators to do it. The operators are running ahead with the system they know. They have done some work on wind but whereas they believe that to some extent is the panacea, I do not think it is. I would support a pilot project on energy generation from the tides in the Shannon Estuary. Due to the volumes of water in the area, it is an ideal location. Such a project would not have any effect on the shipping lanes in the area and would certainly get the support of other Senators.

Senator O'Toole spoke at length about biomass. The Minister of State, Deputy Browne, in his former role, visited County Clare to launch a biomass project and heard at first hand the reaction of an industry that was prepared to look at it as a method of generating energy. They wanted an assurance that they would have continuity of supply so that if they made the investment in the boilers, which I understand is considerable at a sum in excess of €100,000, the supply would be available. The day the Minister of State spoke to the farmers it was clear they wanted assistance in terms of grants to ensure they could continue because the transportation costs of bringing the raw material to the biomass burner is considerable and would need Government support. As Minister of State in the Department of Agriculture and Food, Deputy Browne, had experience of working with many of the forestry farmers. He did excellent work there in terms of reinstating some of the grants associated with the thinning. It is really the thinning from forestry that will be used for biomass energy. Timber is a cash crop and one would not want the entire crop reduced to producing pellets. It is the thinnings and cut-aways that are relevant. The Minister of State has a clear grasp of that and I hope he will bring it to bear in his new Department. Further research on biomass is required.

Another area is causing a number of problems for us. The underlying theory in the planning process is that it is necessary to reduce the number of one-off houses, because dispersed housing will not be sustainable if people have no access to oil and cannot travel into villages for services. That is not a good way to proceed.

While all agree oil is disappearing and we must therefore conserve energy by changing our lifestyle, we should look to alternatives in the transport sector, such as electricity. There has not been enough research into this alternative. There is no reason Ireland could not lead research on the concept of electric vehicles.

This could achieve two ends. We regularly speak in the House about road deaths and the speed of petrol-fuelled cars which are capable of travelling far above the speed limits. We are told the disadvantage of electric vehicles is that they can only do 50 mph or 60 mph. That is close enough to the speed limit. The end of the era of oil might not be a bad thing. Maybe we will start to travel at speeds that are allowed on our roads and solve two problems. A great deal more money needs to be spent on research in this area. While there is doubt about whether an electric engine is capable of driving a heavy goods vehicle that could be resolved over time.

Those are my main points. Many of the other points I intended making have already been made and I do not wish to be repetitive.