Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

Security of energy supply, climate change and improving the energy performance of our building stock are significant issues. They are vital for the future of our planet and the quality of life for future generations, impacting on our potential for sustainable economic growth and social development. The Government has taken major initiatives in this regard. The landmark Government Green Paper on energy is an honest acknowledgement that the country must up its game over a range of policies if it is to successfully meet the energy supply and environmental challenges facing it.

The Green Paper, Towards a Sustainable Energy Future for Ireland, launched on 1 October 2006, sets out where the Government wants Ireland's position on energy resources to be in 2020 and how it will be achieved. By 2020, Ireland will have scored well on the three energy pillars of energy policy — security of supply, environmental sustainability and competitiveness. The overall vision in the Green Paper is coherent, where these pillars interact and reinforce each other. Success in one leads to success in all. Any success depends on our willingness to lead.

In 2020, Ireland will have met the challenge of security of energy supply by the integration and interconnection with the UK and Europe. It will have achieved a diverse fuel supply regime, including optimum use of domestic fuel sources, world class fuel storage facilities, an enhanced network and transmission infrastructure and expanded oil and gas strategic reserves.

Increased integration and interconnection with other markets is crucial. Enhanced electricity interconnection with Northern Ireland and the development of a new electricity interconnector with Britain will be completed by 2012, and sooner if possible. An all-island energy market will have the capacity to deliver the cost efficiencies, transparency and investments needed to promote an efficient and secure electricity market that will contribute positively to competitiveness.

Fuel diversity is another method of ensuring security of supply. By 2020, we will be using a much changed fuel mix in our electricity supply. This will include the use of clean coal technology in further coal-based electricity generation, co-firing with biomass and a significant expansion in renewable energy production.

The second pillar of our energy policy is environmental sustainability. The Green Paper envisages an ambitious target of 30% of electricity produced by renewable energy by 2020, a doubling of the 15% target set for 2010. Renewable energy is a key to sustainability. It must become centre stage within our overall energy demand in coming years if we are to achieve the 2020 target.

We have taken the first step towards 2020 with the new €119 million renewable energy feed-in tariff, REFIT. At the end of September, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources announced support, under REFIT, to 55 new renewable powered electricity generating plants. These plants will have a combined capacity of more than 600 MW, where wind power accounts for 98% of all the new support. This additional capacity is capable of generating power for 1 million homes. It can also prevent the emission of more than 2 million tonnes of polluting greenhouse annually.

The Green Paper sets the target of a 20% reduction in energy demand by 2020. Through energy efficiency, individuals can contribute to the 2020 vision. Relatively small changes by each of us can have a major impact on our environment, security of supply and competitiveness. This is the basis of the recently launched Power of One campaign. I regret that the Private Members' motion was somewhat belittling of this imaginative initiative. It is reasonable to seek to achieve changed behaviour in industry and in the home by showing how to start with small actions and build on the new behaviour.

The third pillar of the Green Paper is competitiveness. We want to see, well before 2020, a stable and transparent market and regulatory and investment framework. This must be underpinned by infrastructural and technological development. Such a framework will enable the energy sector to be competitive and to support national competitiveness in a high-growth economy and inclusive society. High global energy costs are now a fact of life, with the inevitable impact on prices. A large proportion of the higher prices experienced in Ireland is explicable by our fuel mix and the existing structural constraints of the market. These factors limit our ability to manage and mitigate future energy price increases. Our focus therefore must be on addressing controllable costs.

To enhance competition, the go-ahead has been given to plan the construction of a 500 MW electricity interconnector between Wales and Ireland by 2012 or sooner. This vital strategic asset should remain in public hands and will be owned by EirGrid on completion. The CER and EirGrid will fast-track the design of a competition and the technical studies respectively, to ensure a speedy completion. The Green Paper allows a period of two months for debate and public consultation and the comments of Senators will be particularly welcome.

In July the Government published a report on the implementation of the national climate change strategy, entitled Ireland's Pathway to Kyoto Compliance. This report is an important milestone in the development of national climate change policy. The 2000 climate change strategy set out the framework for Ireland's response to global warming and to achieving its target under the Kyoto Protocol. The report provides a comprehensive update on policy developments in the sectors of the economy responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. It also sets out measures that have been put in place since 2000 to address those emissions.

The report shows that up to 8 million tonnes of emissions reductions can be expected each year between 2008 and 2012 with measures that are already in place. These measures include strengthened energy requirements in the building regulations relating to the conservation of fuel and energy; regulations requiring all new cars for sale to be labelled with fuel economy and CO2 emissions information; meeting our target under the renewable energy directive; excise relief of more than €200 million between 2006 and 2010 to reduce emissions from transport — equivalent to taking 76,000 cars off the road; fewer and younger animals in the national herd as a result of reform of the Common Agricultural Policy; and the Government's forestry programme.

Ireland has some way to go to reach its Kyoto Protocol target. However, we are not alone among EU member states and are in a much better position than some.