Niall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party)

I assure the Senator that I worked for many good companies in the dairy industry for a number of years. In many cases dairy companies produce food ingredients which are shipped abroad. There is great potential to achieve added value. The vision of high quality food production is a good one and one we need to prioritise. The Green New Deal, the Smart Economy, the Green Economy and NewEra are the titles of vision documents proposed by various parties. The Smart Economy and the Green Economy are Government documents. However, all of the documents have much in common. They suggest a way forward and a vision as to how we can create a large number of jobs. There are debates about how many can be created in the green economy or the smart economy. The programme for Government suggests there will be approximately 127,000 jobs in the green economy in the next ten years. I have heard Deputy Kenny on many occasions talk about a similar proposal and he has suggested a figure of 100,000 new jobs. We can argue the toss about the number. It does not really matter whether it is 100,000 or 127,000 news jobs; the reality is that the potential for job creation is enormous.

In the energy sector we import approximately €6 billion worth of fossil fuel energy supplies. In the past two years of the Government we have moved from a figure of 7% to 15% in the use of renewable sources of energy, a significant achievement that is not often highlighted. The green and smart economies have the potential to replace that figure of €6 billion and keep the money in this country, in the process creating many jobs which will generate even more money. The Minister of State said that for every 100 jobs created in export industry, 70 indigenous jobs were created. The more we can export the better for the economy.

I refer to a comment made by Senator Quinn in a previous discussion. He suggested we did not need the Government to create many jobs itself, but to create the right environment in which jobs could be created. It is not the job of the Government or the banks to create jobs. However, it is the job of these institutions to create the right environment for entrepreneurs to create jobs. The only jobs the Government can create are in the public service and at this time it is not realistic to expect many new public service jobs to be created.

I refer to what I call sustainable energy zones. To foster entrepreneurship, it is important to allow the right business environment to be created. There are many blockages in the energy sector. I cite the example of a gentleman who tried to set up a wind farm in Galway. He received planning permission that lasted for a period of five years. Throughout that time he tried to secure a grid connection from the ESB. It took him seven years to secure it, at which point the planning permission had expired and he had to reapply. In the meantime the land had been redesignated partly as an SAC and he found he could not obtain planning permission again. At this stage he had secured a grid connection and invested a considerable amount of money but was unable to set up a wind farm. That is not acceptable. This point has been put to various Ministers and the Government is making amendments to the Planning and Development Act to prevent this problem occurring in the future; it is allowing for extensions. Considerable work is being done to ensure the time taken to approve grid connections is greatly reduced.

There is a gap. There is a sustainable energy zone in Dundalk that has been extremely successful. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for Irish businessmen to set up decent small green businesses, which is hampering job creation in this viable sector. It is easy to suggest setting up a business in the green energy sector. However, it takes considerable investment and many years to do so, with many blockages in the way. The Minister should work with the local authorities on renewable energy zones in order that Government and local authority policies work in tandem to remove all the blockages in the way of businessmen who want to start businesses in the renewable energy sector and the green economy. It is important that small businesses are prioritised in order that we do not see them closing because of cash flow problems, which, unfortunately, is the case. We need to address this issue. We also need to deal with the issue of local authority rates. It is not acceptable for local authorities to raise rates at such a time. We need to ensure they reduce rates to allow small businesses to become viable.

There are great opportunities in horticulture, a very important sector on a regional basis. The Government has introduced a policy to increase the figure for forestry from 11% to 17% by 2030. Throughout the country there are great opportunities in the sector. We have not tapped into the potential to produce biogas. There are blockages in that respect in that the issues crosses three Departments. Biogass accounts for some 40% of Germany's renewable energy supply, while in Ireland the figure is zero. There is great money to be made in its production and it would also help the farming industry. The supply of biogas is not intermittent in the way that it is in the case of wind power and biogas can be used to supplement renewable energy supplies in particular areas.

We should not forget that we have some of the best water supplies in the world. We also need to consider the great potential of tourism. We have a very good tourism industry but need to ensure measures are taken in order that when we face difficulties such as those caused by the recent volcanic eruptions, the industry will not fall apart if there is a sustained problem with air travel. We need to look at many measures. We need to be innovative and come up with suggestions on how we can stimulate business and create the right environment for entrepreneurs to flourish. We need to be positive; we should not look negatively at unemployment figures, while indicating how appalling the Government is. The reality is that it is doing its best. Fine Gael is also making positive suggestions.