Fiona O'Malley (Progressive Democrats)

The Senator needs to have faith that the services and the institutions we establish are sufficiently robust. It is our function to ensure that shortcomings we might perceive in the legislation are ironed out here so that the services can be provided. The necessity for a public representative to work on behalf of the citizen in interfacing with Departments should be cut to a minimum.

To a large extent I welcome the Bill and I welcome the Minister of State to the House. However, I believe it represents a missed opportunity. While I welcome Senator Bradford's enthusiasm for the Bill, I do not share his level of belief in it. I am a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security, to which he referred. We have spent considerable time dealing with the question of offshore licences, on which I wish to focus. In the two years since its establishment, it has taken up a considerable amount of our time. We have repeatedly heard from witnesses telling us about missed opportunities because it is impossible to get a quick answer from the Department. I welcome the Bill because it makes more sense to transfer the responsibilities to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. I hope to God it will mean we will get a quicker response. Given that Ireland is well placed for this type of investment, it has been deeply frustrating for the committee members to deal with people repeatedly telling us that we are about to lose this enormous investment to Scotland or some other area because there is a lack of enthusiasm or interest on the part of Government to smooth the path and make it easier.

Given the economic turmoil in which we find ourselves, the Government certainly would not wish to be an obstacle to progress and investment. As I said, it has been deeply frustrating for members of the committee and for lobbyists outside the Oireachtas that so much of our focus has had to be on removing this obstacle so that we can secure those types of investments. One of the briefing documents relating to this legislation notes the comment by the director of Sustainable Energy Ireland that we do no not want to be the ones sending out the sandwiches and watching what others are doing because we have not legislatively equipped the State to exploit the opportunities that exist.

We must take whatever action is necessary to expedite licensing and to ensure there is opportunity to exploit our resources, whether wind, wave, mineral or whatever. I hope this legislation will be the vehicle to expedite licensing arrangements. If there is an impediment in this regard I am interested to hear what it is. Through the course of Committee and Report Stages, I hope we end up with legislation that will facilitate people who want to invest in a substantial way - we are talking about billions of euro - in our smart economy. It is an area in which Ireland can move to the fore. There are opportunities not only in terms of our ability to export to other countries but also in terms of reducing our dependency on oil and gas and the major impact that will have in respect of our carbon footprint.

In his contribution, the Acting Chairman, Senator McCarthy, spoke about how long we have been waiting for this legislation. My focus is very much on the energy side, whereas the Acting Chairman is particularly interested in fisheries. It is deeply frustrating from the energy perspective. We are all grateful that the legislation is finally before us but we must be sure to take the opportunity - and I do not mean any disrespect in saying this - to make it as good as we can. It is generally the case that legislation deals with issues that we can see or can expect. In this case, however, we need to expect the unexpected, that is, we must think outside the box. The legislation must accommodate, in so far as possible, issues that may not be relevant today.

For example, when the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006 was being debated in the Dáil, I remember thinking it should include something about offshore wind generation and so on because that is where the future lies. Although something may not be economical today, it certainly could be in the longer term. Our responsibility is to frame legislation for a 30-year window. Proposals regarding offshore wind generation were not taken seriously in 2006 because they were considered uneconomical at the time. The view in that regard has changed in the meantime and although it is not nearly as economical as onshore wind generation, that is not a good enough reason not to legislate. We had the opportunity in that instance to make legislation that will stand the test of time, but we did not take it.

That is why I hope this Bill will take on board the work of the Oireachtas committee. Senator Bradford spoke earlier about how it is one of the first times that a committee of the Houses has put forward legislation. We were adamant to do worthwhile work on this important issue, but it apparently fell on deaf ears. I am a great fan of the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Ryan, and have every faith in his commitment to this area. I am confident that the shortcomings in this Bill are not a result of his unwillingness or reluctance to accept our proposals. Nonetheless, I do not see a great deal of them in the Bill, which is unfortunate. I expect the Minister of State will reassure me that there will be time to include such provisions at a later date. That frustrates me because they are needed now; we cannot afford to let any more investments stall. However, I welcome the fact that progress is finally being made on the transfer of certain functions to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the updating of the provisions regarding dumping at sea. I am pleased to support the Bill but would be even more pleased to make it a far more robust and rigorous proposal.