Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Kelleher, to the House. It is customary that amendments are tabled to a Private Members' motion but we saw no reason in tabling an amendment to this motion which we fully support. I welcome the debate and I look forward to the contributions of many Members. I also welcome the Minister of State, Deputy McGuinness, who has just arrived in the House.

I was clearing out some old files last week and I came across the clár for the Fine Gael Ard-Fheis of 1977. Among all the laudable motions I came across one from the Trinity College branch calling for the establishment of a Department of the Environment to deal with the increasing importance of environmental matters in Ireland and proposing that we could learn from our European colleagues in this area. This was certainly a radical proposal at the time and long before the Green Party was founded. Unfortunately, it was also long before we as a nation seriously embraced the importance of the protection of our environment, the challenges of climate change and other environmental issues or green issues as they are now called. The same clár also contained another motion calling for an immediate improvement in the pupil-teacher ratio. Some things are as relevant in 2008 as they were in 1977.

I welcome the debate on the importance of the development of green technology for economic growth in Ireland and I also welcome the recent excellent report produced by Forfás on the environmental goods and services sector on the island of Ireland and the enterprise opportunities and policy implications arising from this report. Ireland is facing an unemployment crisis and recent figures highlight this. We need an aggressive approach from Government to tackle this problem. The development of green technology will not solve our problem but certainly can go some of the way towards increasing employment significantly in many areas which require urgent attention. The collapse of the construction industry has forced tens of thousands onto the dole queue with bleak prospects of employment in the immediate future and fear and despair for many couples who question what the future holds for them and their children. There is a requirement on the State to retrain and upskill these people and give them hope and confidence to plan for their future and the future of their families.

The building energy rating, which requires energy performance certificate standards for all houses, offers promising future opportunities for the domestic construction sector. There are approximately 1.4 million houses in this country and even assessing these houses should create employment but the training for this assessment should be fast-tracked. There is a need for greater insulation, the replacing of old and draughty windows and doors, and general energy conservation measures. These can create great opportunities but it is imperative that the Government would drive this sector and come up with imaginative ideas and grants, if necessary, to stimulate it into becoming a vibrant driver of economic growth, which is so necessary at this time.

I must compliment the Irish Farmers Association on its pre-budget submission on achieving a viable farming structure and supporting renewable energy generation on farms, which I read with interest. On-farm renewable electricity production should be encouraged and underpinned by the introduction of smart metering technologies.

To assist with the education and research of micro-energy development in Ireland, the IFA is seeking 100% grant aid, from funding already allocated for this purpose by Sustainable Energy Ireland, to establish eight wind-micro-energy units, four micro-solar units and two small anaerobic units on farms across the country. As part of this initiative, the IFA has undertaken to locate suitable on-farm sites and discuss terms with owners to ensure that farmers and other interested parties will have free access to the data and information generated. In addition, the IFA will organise an extensive education campaign for farmer groups through its training wing, IFA Skillnets. This proposed initiative by the IFA should be embraced and supported and I would urge the Minister to support and encourage such initiatives which will highlight the need to embrace green technologies which can benefit communities throughout the country.

While the priority to address global warming has taken a back seat after the shock of the recent financial turmoil we have witnessed, it is essential that Ireland and all nations should honour their commitments in this regard — hopefully the broom of change in the US will extend to environmental matters also. I welcome the fact the Government is establishing a high-level group to develop an action plan for the development of green enterprise, which is not before time. We must strive to optimise the opportunities that present in this area.

One of the findings of the Forfás report was that Ireland needed far greater investment in research and development. However, the Government in the budget reduced by 34% spending on energy research programmes. It is great to have reports like the recent Forfás report but they are useless unless the Government takes action to implement them. As I have stated, Ireland faces severe unemployment and economic difficulties in the coming years. The new opportunities in green technology and the green economy are there to be snapped up. However, the Government took the short-sighted view and reduced overall funding in this area at a time when our competitors are sure to be increasing investment.

I commend the motion. My colleague, Senator Coffey, will deal with a number of items, particularly those he raised on the Order of Business only last week in regard to recycling, to which Senator Boyle also referred in his contribution. I look forward to the further contributions. This is an area where we must take the bull by the horns. The Government must be prepared to put its money where its mouth is. Without that, we will lag behind the other European countries in particular and not realise the potential that exists as a result of the development of green technologies.