Niall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party)

As the Senator will recognise, the whole point of the PSO is that it is a balancing act. Opposition is a wonderful place to be and right now it is an absolutely fantastic place to be because the wonderful thing about Opposition is that it is quite possible to put forward points by raising one side of the balance sheet and not the second side. It can talk about all the good stuff while ignoring the harsh realities of how it has to raise money to pay for it.

We have the wonderful NewERA document from Fine Gael which refers to 105,000 new jobs spread evenly, region by region, between every region in the country. The reality of the PSO levy is that it is largely paying for three turf powered stations in the midlands which would undoubtedly have to close if the PSO levy was not available. I would like to know from Fine Gael what other area it is prepared to cut to raise that revenue instead of allowing the PSO levy. Is it going to borrow the money on a year by year basis or start up a building boom? What exactly is it going to do to get that money?