Fiona O'Malley (Progressive Democrats)

The Minister spoke without notes. He is committed to this issue. We could not have a better person responsible for it. I wish him well and have every faith that he will make a real effort to deliver on the target results. His commitment to diminishing carbon emissions is unsurpassed in the Dáil.

The establishment of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security is welcome, but I wonder how it will operate with the existing committee. I hope there will not be much conflict. As a person interested in the energy future of the country I wanted to see on which committee one would be best placed. I like to think the two committees will work well together. We must examine this issue. The Minister gave good ideas on the agenda of the committee and he will make himself available to both committees. I am very focused on this and am looking forward to the establishment of the committees. When one is not attending a committee meeting every week, one finds one is not on top of an issue in the same way as one is when one is meeting regularly with people and representatives from an industry. However, I am concerned about how the two committees will interact.

The Minister spoke about concentrating on bio-fuels. I became interested in this area roughly four years ago and, in that time, I have noticed that the thinking has moved on and changed dramatically. What people would have commonly believed to be best practice back then has now led to unintended consequences, for example, on the international price of grain. It is having a devastating effect and even causing famines. We must have the courage to think again about what was thought to be the right way forward. The Minister does not lack courage and I believe he will have the courage to do this.

I will conclude by making a small, party political point.