Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I second the motion.

I congratulate my colleague, Senator Quinn, on tabling this motion as it is a very important subject. I also congratulate and welcome to the House, the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Calleary. He and I soldiered together on the Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security before his elevation. Much of what we are discussing was discussed by us both formally and informally within and without the House. I wish him well in his Ministry.

In honour of his presence in the House I will talk substantially about his county of Mayo. First, I will conclude the debate on nuclear energy. I do not support nuclear energy but the I support the points made by Senator Quinn. The issue has to be discussed and examined. One of the issues on which I have strong views is that nuclear is considered as one big issue. I would like to hear a clear distinction between nuclear fusion and nuclear fission. Nuclear fission is where the isotopes drive madly into each other and create energy. However, the problem is that it cannot be stopped and this is still happening in Chernobyl, 25 years later and we have no control over it. On the other hand, nuclear fusion is where the isotopes are merged together. It is in a much more controlled environment, although it needs much more heat to do it. The long-term waste is less and the half-life where it is dangerous is much shorter, one tenth that of fission, so it is far less dangerous to future generations. The current nuclear fission leaves waste that will be there for hundreds of years and we have not worked out how we will sort that out yet. I will return to that.

When Senator Quinn and I discussed this I said I would like to make this as practical and as down to earth as possible. Looking at what we have in various parts of Ireland, we are as rich in energy as almost any place in Europe. The Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, will know this because he and I have examined it very closely.

I want to mention the extraordinary, progressive, creative and advanced work being done by Mayo County Council. It was mind-boggling to meet Mr. Des Mahon, the Mayo county manager, ably assisted by people such as Mr. Peter Hynes and others, who have led the way. For people who talk about what county councils do and do not do, and the importance of local authorities, here are rural models for other counties to look at. I will give an example and tell Members the things we could do. I ask people to keep in mind one figure. The amount of energy that comes through the grid to our houses at peak every day, around 6 p.m. is approximately 5,000 MW in the middle of winter and approximately 3,500 MW in the summer. That can be seen on the EirGrid website which shows what we are using on any day of the week at any time.

Mayo County Council has a proposal to build a wind farm in Bellacorrick in Mayo. There used to be a turf burning power station there and the Cathaoirleach would be well aware of the importance of turf burning in his constituency. The last turf burning station in Bellacorrick was demolished approximately two years ago. There is an existing wind farm and there is a proposal for a larger wind farm. The county council has all the bits put together and can deal with it at its end but there are national problems. The problem of getting onto the grid has been solved but it must deal with planning and other issues and we must return to that. When in full flow that wind farm will produce 500 MW. That is between one seventh and one tenth of Ireland's daily requirements produced in one area in County Mayo. That is what can be done and it is completely renewable. I will come back to the storage issue and the non-reliance on wind as a total solution.

On the climate change committee we see many maps, for example geological maps showing oil rich areas. Off the north-west coast of Ireland where Shell is working, there is great potential for oil but I will leave that aside. On the map of the world which shows the most energy laden waves, the north Mayo coast is the richest in Europe. The average wave height off Belmullet is approximately 2.5 m to 3 m, about the height of the door jambs in this chamber. That is the average for the year. A metre of that can produce approximately 450 MW per hour, so at least another tenth of our energy and probably more can be produced from Mayo. We are talking about between one quarter and one fifth of our requirement coming from those two sources alone.

A building on Fitzwilliam Square houses a company called OpenHydro. It is the most advanced tidal energy company in the world. Wave energy is from waves going up and down. Tidal energy is from the tide going in and out. They are different. The only example of tidal energy in Ireland is in Strangford Lough, outside this jurisdiction. Strangford Lough has a current of approximately four or five knots, approximately 2.5 m per second, and one needs something like that. One can get that in Bulls Mouth in Achill, along by Kilcradan Point lighthouse in the Shannon Estuary and up closer to Limerick, the Blasket Sound, places on the east coast where the tide runs down the Irish Sea near Arklow Bank and such places, off Galway and other places. It is not huge but it exists.

The company doing that is already connecting to the French grid. It has the contract to do the same in Washington State and Canada and is the only company that has connected a tidal electricity generator to the grid in the Orkneys, which is the most advanced place for tidal wave energy in Great Britain. An Irish company is doing this. Wave energy is like a long crocodile. Tidal energy is called open energy. It is silent and invisible. Not even the most difficult An Taisce member can object to this. It is far underwater, unseen, invisible and poses no danger to navigation. The reason it is called open is that it is open in the middle so seals, dolphins and fish can go through without being damaged. All these possibilities for production exist for us and we are not availing of them. I know the Minister of State's views on this and he knows mine. We have discussed them before. He should make this the priority. Let us take Senator Quinn's points and move it on.

I will not have time to discuss storage, but the electric car is an extraordinary advance for us because electric cars are recharged at night while the windmills at Bellacorrick will be flying and we will be producing energy that no one will want to buy. In Ireland we have no way to store energy. We will have interconnectors to Europe but one still cannot sell it during off-peak times. The only storage we have in Ireland is Turlough Hill where we pump water up during the off-peak hours and drop it down during the peak hours. We get only 80% efficiency from that and there are many more efficient ways of doing it.

I have probably only reached my first paragraph but I can see the Cathaoirleach indicating I must conclude. Senator Quinn raised the importance of this to the climate and the fact there is a green county. The Minister of State's county can lead the world on aspects of wave energy, Ireland can lead the world on aspects of tidal energy and we can sell wind power into Europe. I am not making this up. The Minister of State and I know this. We have examined the figures and put our fingers in the wound, as it were. It can be done. The renewable power stations are not completely efficient yet but they are all generating. We have examined the various ways it can be done and I ask that the Government prioritise this to create jobs. What the ESB announced recently with the extra thousands of jobs is an example of what can be done in this area. I apologise for going over time.