David Norris (Independent)

While I was a little nervous, I was very careful. It was fantastic. It was silent, with tremendous acceleration and one had good control of the car. That is green energy. It was interesting to hear that one of only 11 prototypes was made available to a local garage in north central Dublin.

I want principally to speak about wave energy. I believe we have an opportunity to get involved in and become a world leader in this area. As with food, we have the best national resources. We are one of the four principal areas in the world wherein wave potential exists, including the Atlantic coast of Europe, in particular Ireland, the west coast of North America, San Francisco to British Colombia, Hawaii and New Zealand. We are one of four countries with the richest potential for harvesting this energy source. We have the capacity and innovation to make it.

I wish to put on the record, as other Members did, that various companies are doing well in this area. The company to which I refer is Wavebob, which is involved in developing this energy in consultation with other major international companies. It seems that the single flaw in the Fine Gael proposal is that we do not need the extra level of bureaucracy advocated in it. We need to clear away the dead wood and red tape and allow the most energetic promotion of new ideas on the part of the Government.

Wavebob is important because it has solved a number of problems. The Wavebob structure is an axi-symmetric buoy on slack moorings, which makes it inherently seaworthy. Its ability to de-tune, or switch off, in seconds is vitally important in a resonating energy absorber. As waves change all the time, a particularly sensitive and flexible response is needed to collect their energy. The Wavebob structure is able to respond to high waves of long duration. The natural frequency of the Wavebob, unlike many other buoys, may be set to match the typical ocean swell, thereby facilitating good energy absorption. The Wavebob structure can ride large waves of up to 40 m high. A structure of this type must be sensitive enough to respond to the variability of wave systems. The Wavebob structure, which has low operating costs and high availability, can be made fairly simply. The fact that it can stay in the sea for 25 years — its components are changed on a regular basis — means that it attracts low capital and maintenance costs while retaining a high level of output. It can produce enough electricity to supply up to 700 households. I remind the Minister of State that many innovative products of this nature are available. We have good technology. Wavebob, which is an important company, is collaborating with Vattenfall, a Scandinavian company that is at the leading edge of a technology that needs to be encouraged.