Dan Boyle (Green Party)

This Bill is simply intended to allow the borrowing capacity for Bord Gáis Éireann to increase from €1.7 billion to €3 billion. There is an onus on the Government and the Houses of the Oireachtas to allow all State agencies, particularly those in the semi-State sector, to perform to the best of their abilities. There is obvious concern in increasing a credit capacity at a time when as a nation we are finding it difficult to borrow additional resources. The market for borrowing money is becoming limited and the cost of borrowing is increasing. The work of Bord Gáis Éireann in reorganising itself as a general energy company must be recognised. It is to our advantage to have competing interests, not only in respect of the fuel types or energy sources offered but also in offering consumers a choice. Bord Gáis Éireann is well on the way to achieving this. I hope the result will be better services and lower prices for the consumer. The Electricity Supply Board will need to examine this process.

This is a consequence of the competition directive on energy activity but we can no longer take energy for granted. We are reaching a point at which there is no certainty about the world's economy or access to traditional energy sources. In the past month we have seen that much of the natural gas coming into Europe comes from Russia through Ukraine and political difficulties there resulted in the supply being cut off, albeit temporarily. That part of the infrastructure, however, remains at risk.

We fortunately had the foresight to examine how we access our outside sources of natural gas, for example, in pipelines through the United Kingdom that originate in Norway. We can also be sure that fossil fuels are at their peak. They will not exist for use by the generations of the next 40 to 50 years. It has been said that the price difficulties caused by our regulation system need to be examined. There is no doubt there is a mismatch between the ability to achieve the supply at source of the fossil fuel products and what the consumer is being charged, particularly commercial consumers. That needs to be recognised in some way. The ongoing talks about how we reorganise have recognised that, and I suspect there will be some short-term relief, either from the Government or from the Minister working with the regulator, to bring about price savings. It will be a short-term relief, because eventually gas and petrol prices will rise again. Even if the short-term relief cannot be provided, at a time when the economy needs a kick start, nobody would deny that this relief would be a worthwhile outcome.

The sense of the Bill is about recognising the energy market. As it remodels itself, I would like to see Bord Gáis Éireann continuing its work, relying less on natural gas as its main product, but trying to source gas from whatever Irish sources exist. The gas supply off Kinsale is coming to an end. We will eventually see some gas coming from the Corrib field, and there are hopes of some gas in the Porcupine Basin, but these sources will run out. All agencies involved in the energy sector, be they commercial or semi-State, will have to bite the bullet on renewable energy. These are companies that have considerable resources, including their own property portfolios. These offer an opportunity to invest in an area that needs greater investment.

In spite of the general feeling that there is a need to pare back on public expenditure, additional public expenditure of at least €150 million has been just announced in the other House for insulation for housing and public buildings such as schools. I hope that sum will be increased to cover insulation for local authority housing as well.

Energy companies have a responsibility to sell as much of their product as possible and maximise their profits, but also to make sure the resources they are selling are sustainable in the future. As Bord Gáis Éireann remodels itself, and as the Houses give it the sanction to allow it carry out the necessary investment, I hope that a core principle of its work and the work of the ESB will not only be to work together to achieve energy security for this country, but also to work together to make sure that energy, as it is produced, is used as it is needed. If we operate to those principles, we will have an environmental benefit and an economic benefit for generations to come.