Feargal Quinn (Independent)

In response to a question put to me five years ago on a television programme about what business I would get involved in if going into business at the time, I said that renewable energy needed to be high on the priority list of any young person thinking about getting involved in business. I was amazed at the correspondence I received on this matter during the following few weeks. I was contacted by a number of people developing ideas in the area of wave, tidal, solar, wind and biomass and was impressed by the attention being given to this area. Spirit of Ireland, to which Senator Butler referred, was not around at the time. I agree with the Senator that our involvement in this area is a no-brainer. I had not realised, until he pointed this out, that energy is not mentioned in yesterday's four year plan, which I find difficult to believe. I will take another look at the plan.

Many people ask why there is always money available for bailouts but not for stimulation of the renewable energy industry. We have particular potential in the wind and wave sectors owing to our location on the Atlantic coast. We should also look to other areas as well. I mentioned how Irish dairy should be looking to expand into China. Are there other opportunities in China? Mr. Constantin Gurdgiev, an economist at Trinity College, made the point that Ireland should look aggressively at partnerships with rapidly growing economies like China. For instance, the Chinese are engaged in rolling out early stage tests for mass-produced electric vehicles. I suggest that Ireland should be asking China if it could be its partner in Europe. We could make their electric vehicles here and be its platform for growth into the rest of Europe.

There is another matter that could be of assistance. The Minister has heard me speak previously about daylight saving. I believe we should join central European time. The British are to have a debate on this issue on 3 December. It appears they are giving serious consideration to this matter. Senator Butler spoke about no-brainers. This, to me, is a no-brainer. If we join central European time, we will gain an extra hour every evening of the year from which savings will also accrue. The only problem was that if Britain did not join, there would have been a one-hour gap between Dublin and Belfast. Now that the British are considering doing this, we should push them in that area.

We should look to have a much more mature debate about the issue of nuclear power because it is a renewable energy and it would help massively to reduce emissions, an issue I have raised previously. The Green Party in Britain has changed its attitude. It has swung right around and states it is now in favour of nuclear power. It seems sensible if we are really committed to tackling climate change to consider this renewable source of energy. More than 50 nuclear plants are under construction worldwide, of which more than 20 are in China. It could be argued that this is taking the longer term view based purely on engineering principles rather than on the emotional rhetoric with which nuclear power is burdened.

The 1997 Nobel physics laureate and current US Energy Secretary, Mr. Steven Chu, said last week that the atomic power option may aid the fight against climate change. Mr. Chu said in reference to global efforts to fight floods, rising seas and droughts by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which are blamed for global warming, that certainly in this century nuclear energy should be part of the solution. The Minister has come out strongly on this view in the past but the British Green Party has changed its attitude and we should not have such a fixed attitude in this country. Mr. Chu also said that nuclear power can be used as a backup with coal and natural gas until renewable energy infrastructure is built because it takes time to develop such infrastructure. This investment in nuclear energy may not make sense at present, but let us take a more rounded and longer term view and at least include it for consideration.

I refer to wind energy. Ireland has a surplus of wind energy and a better wind energy regime than anywhere else in Europe. We have to remember that every piece of high ground in Ireland is similar to an oil well and, therefore, we have at least 10,000 sites if we are able to use them. I mentioned last week that 23,000 people are employed in the wind energy business in Denmark whereas in Ireland the equivalent figure is 1,500, yet the two countries are similar in size. One expert says that in two years up to 400 jobs could be created with hundreds more employed in blade-making using a revolutionary Irish design and the manufacture and erection of turbines. We have more builders available than anywhere else in Europe. We need only copy the British template to advance the industry.

Mr. Ed Milliband conducted extensive research on the subject before his election as the British Labour Party leader and he produced a 96-page document, including research on electricity tariffs. Wind energy could bring savings of tens of billions of pounds in the UK context. I firmly believe the British have realised the strategic importance of wind energy production. The UK authorities are prepared to share every bureaucratic detail with us. We do not need more reports; what we need is action, as we have opportunities to do something about it. I hope the Minister has been in contact with his counterpart in the United Kingdom to procure this intelligence and information. We have to consider that 90% of all wind farms in Denmark and Germany are community wind farm projects. This is fascinating and I only learned about this lately. In Germany, developers borrow from the locals rather than banks and it is an example we should follow. Senator Butler touched on the Spirit of Ireland project, which has a similar theme.

We should look at the small and medium users of energy, dairy farms, schools and sewage works, not the massive wind turbines and wind farms established in other countries. I visited Vienna recently and could not get over the size of them. I am referring to small wind turbines and single generators. There are approximately 30,000 dairy farms in Ireland and at least half should have wind power. However, only 180 small wind turbines are in use in Ireland. An Irish company is the leading manufacturer of turbine blades in Europe. The company has patented the method it uses and the blade was designed in Ireland. However, the blades, which are made from aero-composites, are now manufactured at a factory in Brandenburg, Germany because the company could not secure funding in Ireland. In Brandenburg, the local council gave the company a grant for €250,000 to get up and running. It was originally based in Ireland and the owners eventually hope to open a factory here in the future but, in the meantime, they will retain production in Germany.

This is a worthy debate and renewable energy presents opportunities. It has been useful to learn so much from the various speakers and I hope it will help us to go in the direction that I know the Minister's heart will follow. I refer to another issue raised by Senator Butler. If the four year plan announced yesterday did not refer to energy, then surely we have slipped up and missed a great opportunity.