Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

I am delighted to have the opportunity to update the House on the significant progress achieved in harnessing our renewable energy resources and the challenging targets set by the Government to increase the contribution of indigenous renewable energy resources to our energy mix in the future. It is appropriate to discuss this matter in the House as the same issues are being debated in many other forums, both nationally and internationally.

There are a number of aspects to the energy challenge facing us. The first is climate change and our share of global carbon reduction targets. The second concerns the security of our energy supply and in particular our dependence on imported oil and gas from politically sensitive regions of the world. The third pertains to the dwindling supplies of cheap and easily accessible oil and gas, coupled with rising demand from developing economies. The fourth aspect concerns volatile and rising energy costs and their impact on the competitiveness of the economy and the day-to-day living costs of the citizens.

Our response to these challenges is necessarily complex and varied and while there are no easy solutions, I believe there is wide consensus that the fundamentals of the solution revolve around reducing our demand for energy through dramatically increasing our overall energy efficiency and diversifying our sources of energy by rapidly increasing our renewable energy sector.