Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

I will return to that issue presently. Fine Gael welcomes in principle the 4% bio-fuel obligation scheme for the stated objectives of achieving security of supply, increasing employment and economic activity and reducing carbon emissions. Crops such as corn, soya bean, flax and rape can be grown for bio-fuel production. Animal and vegetable oils can also be used. However, the difficulty with achieving the 4% obligation, which is necessitated by the renewable energy directive, is that 70% of our bio-fuels are imported. The carbon footprint incurred by the transport of large quantities of bio-fuels from South America or Africa would defeat the overall objective of the obligation and make a mockery of climate change policy.

I understand the obligation will increase the price of petrol and diesel by 1 cent per litre. The chief executive of Maxol has already warned that the charges will be passed on to consumers. If drivers are going to incur a charge, it is important that domestic production is maximised. However, the motion proposed by Fianna Fáil does not contain a roadmap for achieving 100% domestic production of bio-fuels. The Irish Bioenergy Association estimates that meeting the bio-fuel obligation from Irish production will lead to €170 million in direct economic activity and create 1,700 jobs.

The option of domestically producing bio-fuels is becoming more attractive as fossil fuel prices increase. In its job creation strategy, Fine Gael set out a roadmap for domestic production of bio-fuels. Senator Walsh missed that point in his reading of our amendment. I am happy that his point of order was rejected because our amendment is very relevant to the motion to the extent that it underlines the absence of a roadmap.

We welcome the motion but propose a new strategy. Bord na Móna, Coillte and the National Council for Forest Research and Development should be brought under the same umbrella to create and finance a new State company called bio-energy Ireland which would invest €800 million between 2010 and 2013 in next generation bio-energy technologies in the area of bio-mass, combined heat and power generation and transport. We would develop five new production plants to produce an additional 150,000 tonnes of bio-diesel, a reforestation programme on an estimated 20,000 hectares and bio-mass combined heat and power plants at high energy demand locations such as hospitals, industrial estates and hotels. The return on this investment will come from diverting the resources we currently spend on imported fuels in these sectors. To the extent that these plans will achieve the objectives set out in the Fianna Fáil motion, the amendment is extraordinarily pertinent and necessary. I am sure Senator Walsh will on mature recollection - to use the hackneyed phrase - see the point of my argument and support the amendment. Unanimous support for the amendment would give the motion real relevance.