Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Martin Mansergh, to the House and also the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Calleary, who has left. Deputy Calleary sat with me on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security and I wish him well in his Ministry. New Ministers might bring new ideas to Government and ideas and new vision are needed now.

I compliment Senator Feargal Quinn and the Independent Senators on bringing this motion before the House. This issue should be high on our agenda because of its significance for our country's future and the development of our economy in terms of energy security. Ireland is essentially a very small island that is overly dependent on fossil fuels across many sectors of the economy. I am disappointed by the Government amendment to the motion because it merely restates and reaffirms our dependence on fossil fuels. There is nothing new in the amendment except that the Government acknowledges it will support a range of renewable energy technologies. It does not offer any specifics or ideas concerning how it will do this nor did I hear any such discussed in the debate since it commenced.

Fine Gael supports the general thrust of this motion. The party recently published a policy document, Rebuilding Ireland, which gives specific focus to building renewable energy infrastructure that would secure the future of Ireland's energy requirements and at the same time stimulate our economy and create thousands of jobs. In times of crisis, when financial markets fail and private investors become risk-averse, the State must lead the way, confident in the long-term direction for the country in a changing world. The State cannot abdicate its responsibility to its citizens in the hope that the global financial community will rescue us. That seems to be the message we are getting from the Government but we need more action.

In the past we have seen how Scandinavian countries exploited the potential they had. They were the first to take wind technology on board and produced an entire industry around it. In Ireland we should be taking similar action. We are surrounded by renewable resources, whether wind or water. As an island, we have these resources available and they should be exploited to their full potential.

The previous waves of Irish industrial innovation and expansion were often stimulated by economic crises and involved a visionary response from the State and the public, for example, the establishment of the ESB in 1927 and the Shannon scheme at Ardnacrusha in 1929. Anyone who reads history books will know there was resistance to that scheme at the time and we all know from whence that resistance came. However, it proved to be a very successful scheme. The State became involved with the German firm, Siemens, and produced one of the biggest infrastructure projects of its kind at the time. It still stands the test of time and has generated thousands of megawatts over the years, providing considerable infrastructure to the country.

That is why Fine Gael now proposes €11 billion in new investments in key technologies and network infrastructure for the period 2010 to 2013. This is needed to reposition Ireland as the most competitive and sustainable economy in Europe within the coming decade. Examples of the types of investments that can be delivered include next-generation broadband - often discussed in this House - and more electricity storage infrastructure, including pump storage stations similar to those at Turlough Hill. That again was an ESB innovation and has contributed significantly to our economy. The new charging and electricity grid infrastructure needed to introduce electric cars provided by domestic renewable energy is another area for development as well as more research of the commercialisation of clean bio and ocean hydro related energy to make Ireland a leading player in these emerging sectors.

I have an open mind on nuclear power. It needs to be investigated further and more widely debated. Many have called for a serious examination of the pros and cons of developing nuclear energy in Ireland. This is an area at which perhaps the Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security should look because there could be cross-party engagement on this issue. All of the issues could be put on the table, experts asked to come to the committee to discuss all sides of the question and eventually a report compiled. I believe the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Ryan, alluded to that on the public record and had no problem with the whole area of nuclear energy being debated. This possibly could be a good thing.

Ireland is a very small country and we have enormous natural resources, as Senator Butler indicated. I wonder whether we need nuclear power stations as a small country with considerable natural resources available. Interconnectors are being developed such as the UK-Ireland one that is in the pipeline at the moment. There should be further interconnectors, perhaps to mainland Europe, because that would give us much more security, ensure our energy reserves for the future and mean we were no longer isolated as we are at present. When those areas are properly thought through and developed, I believe there may not be a need for nuclear power stations in this country. However, that needs to be worked through and it is something the Government should be working on at the moment.

Senator Butler referred to areas in planning that could help renewables. I must give credit to Waterford County Council which has developed under its county development plan a programme for renewables and wind power. It has identified areas in the county in which it believes it is acceptable to develop such wind plans. That is a welcome development that possibly might be replicated in all local authorities.

The Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security, under the chairmanship of Deputy Seán Barrett, has already drafted legislation called the offshore renewable energy development Bill 2009. Experts from the industry have contributed to the committee and this is why it has, on a cross-party basis, produced this Bill, the purpose of which is to provide a simplified transparent and fast-track planning and development framework for offshore renewable technologies in an environmentally sustainable manner while respecting the acquired rights of current lessees and all that. Some €16 billion is available in potential investment in renewables and other energy generating projects awaiting approval from the Commission for Energy Regulation.

Many of those who want to invest in this area and who contributed to the joint committee's proceedings highlighted the barriers that exist within our present planning structures and the bureaucracy of Departments. For example, to achieve an offshore licence can take years. The application will be passed from Billy to Jack, from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and on to the Department with responsibility for the marine. No one really knows who is responsible for issuing these licences and this process is holding up major infrastructural developments.

The joint committee has proposed this Bill in the hope that the Government will debate and enact it, even with amendments, to which I am sure its members are quite open. That is one area which should be looked at and streamlined to make it easier. That would attract investment in its own right.

There are interesting areas, too, such as micro-systems. I want to acknowledge what I believe to be a Green Party initiative, whereby domestic wind power micro-generators can now be installed without prior planning permission. That is a positive move because it makes it easier for people to put in micro-systems and not have to be caught up in bureaucracy.

I believe the use of renewables should be the norm rather than the exception. Unfortunately, for the moment it is really just for the pioneers and those privileged enough to afford them. Renewable energy needs to be more accessible to the wider public, whether in business or domestic situations. More people will buy into that and in its own right it will attract more investment.

We can all pay lip service to renewable energy. The Government now needs to be seen to act on what it has been saying. It needs to help change the mindset in this country, make the infrastructure more easily available and make the systems more flexible to allow that. We need to respond to allow that potential to be fully exploited. Again, I welcome the discussion as an important start to a rolling debate on energy security. Ireland is a small country but if we have the vision and put the right mechanisms in place, we can provide our own energy for the future with the assistance, obviously, of interconnectors to mainland Europe and the UK.