Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Curran, to the House. I am pleased to participate in this debate which allows us to examine the pros and cons of the bio-fuel issue. However, it must be looked at in a broader context because we can all too often get lost in a type of tunnel vision on this issue and drive on regardless of new insights. Much of the information I will contribute to this debate is from the Oxfam website which I reviewed as part of my research for this debate. There are many issues that are not immediately clear in respect of bio-fuels that must be taken into consideration when seeking to develop the sector.

Deputy Boyle referred to the increase in food prices in recent years as a consequence of the increase in bio-fuel production. There are many interesting articles in the newspapers which examine how we are living our lives and which explore how the recession presents an opportunity to re-evaluate where we are, what we are doing and how we do it. There is all types of advice in terms of economic savings, recycling and so on which essentially boil down to returning to the Ireland we had before the Celtic tiger stuck its paws in us all. In terms of being economical we are being advised to bring lunches into works, reuse leftovers and so on. That is precisely what people in this country did for many years.

Food prices have doubled in the last three years and people in developing countries are spending between 50% and 80% of their incomes on food, thus bearing the brunt of the food crisis. Poor harvests in large food-producing countries such as Australia, probably as a result of climate change, have impacted food supplies. Increased oil prices mean it is now more expensive to produce and transport food. However, demand for food has increased owing to better diets in countries such as China and India, with the resulting increase in food prices drawing speculators to those areas. We must be very mindful of the dangers in this regard. Those speculators are not getting involved for the good of any nation's health but rather for the good of their pocket.

This is a controversial and complex issue and no panacea is likely to emerge from this debate in respect of bio-fuels and other issues affecting developing countries. Governments must take urgent action in this regard and we have an important role to play in that context. Bio-fuels are supposed to tackle climate change but recent evidence suggests they can exacerbate it and can be an excuse in some respects for inaction on reducing carbon emissions. The European Union has set a target that requires 10% of all transport fuels to be produced from bio-fuels by 2010, which is laudable, but when one teases out the issues, that is not as straightforward as it seems.

According to the Oxfam report, the chairperson of the UN permanent forum on indigenous issues recently warned that 60 million people worldwide could face displacement from their land to make way for bio-fuel plantation, which is worrying. Reports are emanating from Tanzania that vulnerable groups are being forced aside to make way for bio-fuel plantations. Mtamba is one of 11 villages that skirts 9,000 hectares on which Sun Bio-fuels Tanzania Limited, a subsidiary of Sun Bio-fuels, a British company, is finalising an investment deal which will result in the company setting up operations there. The 11,000 people living in the area use the land to make charcoal, which is a major source of income, to collect firewood and to collect herbs for food and medicine. Most significantly, the land allocated for bio-fuel production includes a swamp, which is the only source of water for the villagers. It is not clear what will happen to them and their water supply.

Given the commercial interest in this land, will the business people be exercised by the water needs of the villagers or the commercial need to get the plant up and running? We must be clear about this. Rich countries must revise their policies now. Ireland's bio-fuels policy must take cognisance of the origins of this issue. Evidence of the damage it is causing is overwhelming and we need to be mindful of this. Even in poor countries where bio-fuels may offer a new commodity and increased employment, the potential costs, including environmental damage, land displacement and diminished food and water supplies are severe and we should proceed with caution.

I refer to our overseas development aid, ODA, budget. If we get our strategy right and allow countries to develop economically, socially and environmentally, many of them will become self-sufficient and will deal with these issues themselves. I do not teach the Minister to suck eggs but one of the main priorities of the Irish Aid programme is the reduction of poverty, inequality and exclusion in development countries. Members have raised many issues in the context of budgetary cutbacks and the McCarthy report. The NIMBY syndrome is at play in this regard, as none of us wants cutbacks in our area.

Many fine contributions were made in the Dáil last night as Opposition parties set out their stall but last week I honed in on the Social Justice Ireland pre-budget submission. It referred to the McCarthy report recommendation to abolish Bord Iascaigh Mhara, BIM. My constituency depends wholly on marine activity and coastal communities need the industry to survive. Families are the target of the services provided by Social Justice Ireland, a fine organisation led by Fr. Seán Healy and his colleagues who are committed to social justice. They referred to the amount that would be saved by abolishing BIM. However, the agency itself has identified savings in the context of budgetary cutbacks and we could cut off our nose to spite our face in this regard. BIM is one of the few successes in the decentralisation programme and the full import of that statement will be borne out at the beginning of 2010. If this brand is abolished, it will affect our seafood brand and our export markets. The people who depend on the fishing industry live on middle and low incomes in coastal communities and they will suffer.

The reduction in ODA, according to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, will be difficult but it will be most difficult for those in developing countries. The UN Millennium Development Goals require the international community to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality and ensure environmental stability among other equally important issues. Since its inception in 1974 the Irish Aid programme has had a strong focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately 80% of our ODA budget goes to Africa. Under the bilateral part of its programme, Irish Aid operates intensive and wide-ranging country programmes in six countries in this region, namely, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zambia and Uganda. Malawi will become Ireland's seventh programme country in Africa. Tunnel vision can come into play where bio-fuels are concerned.

We must be cognisant of developing countries in the bio-fuels debate. I refer again to the villages with 11,000 people who depend on water from a swamp for their needs. We must be mindful of this.