Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Fergus O'Dowd, to the House. I refer to a couple of items in the motion, which is interesting for what it says and what it does not say. I am surprised that the main Government party would table such a Private Members' motion without any reference to climate change. A climate change Bill was an important pre-election promise, by the Labour Party in particular, and it was very active in the stop climate chaos campaign. That has now gone down the list of priorities. It has pretty much gone from the Government's agenda.

I welcome a number of things. I watched the contribution of the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, on the monitor. We all agree that energy security is crucially important. I note with interest a couple of references to the east-west interconnector, which comes into my area at Rush, and to EirGrid. A general point on future developments for which the Minister of State will be responsible under NewERA relates to consultation. Currently, when anything that comes under the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act is introduced local authorities are supposed to act on behalf of their citizens. I put it to the Minister of State that in many instances they do not do that as well as they should and sometimes they fail miserably. I use the example of the east-west interconnector which caused great consternation in my area, in particular in the town of Rush, which has a population of more than 8,000 people. The precautionary principle was not followed by An Bord Pleanála, but worse than that Fingal County Council did not even request re-routing underground, as it is around the populated areas, but Meath County Council did at Ratoath and it was granted there.

Every citizen understands the importance of energy security and increasing the links between Ireland and Britain and mainland Europe. However, the Minister of State will have a great deal of influence on this with the local authorities and within the Department. A high level of consistency is required in the context of interconnectors that will run through several counties. It should not just be left to each local authority. Some officials are good and others may not be as up to speed with various matters. That drives people nuts. In Rush in north Dublin the Fine Gael deputy leader and Minister for Health gave a commitment at a public meeting three weeks before the election that if he was elected and became a member of Cabinet he would ensure that the interconnector in Rush would be re-routed. I knew that could not happen but, unfortunately, he said it. That is similar to commitments that were given to the north east pylon pressure group.

When we are talking about energy we must be honest. I have heard many people talk about wind energy. People said, "This is fantastic and we need to do this, but". "Yes, we need to increase our gas output, but.". Let us look at what happened off Mayo. Why would a company in its right mind try to extract oil or gas anywhere off the Irish coast if it is going to take it 15 years to get it to land? It is insane. It is crazy. Senator Clune is correct. She said that more than 90% of our energy is imported fossil fuel. We have a target set down that 40% of energy will be generated by wind power by 2020. We will not reach that in a million years. If someone tries to put up even a single wind turbine somewhere there will be objections to it. We must have an honest debate on the issue. Unfortunately, the honest debate will only take place when an event occurs such as Russia switching off the gas to western Europe. When politicians are talking about the issue we should not make promises. When my party was in opposition previously it made promises. Energy, if Members will excuse the pun, is the oil that greases the wheels of this country. Elected representatives must be able to tell their communities the truth about the noise of turbines in the context of wind energy. In Denmark today a law has been passed to reduce the noise emissions. People have valid criticisms. We need a full policy on producing energy.

It is necessary for people to lead their communities. Currently in Dalkey there is concern about an exploration licence for six miles off the town. I do not say that people are not genuinely concerned. I am sure they are, but I have not heard a proper debate on the issue of a company seeking an exploration licence for six miles off the Irish coast yet hundreds of people met in Dalkey on a Sunday afternoon to say they are against that type of thing. I do not say they are not entitled to be concerned but the problem I have is that the second that happened the elected Members in that constituency, including the Tánaiste, went to the meeting and said they understood the concerns and that perhaps they have to do this, that and the other. One could ask where is our energy policy. I blame the previous Government in this respect also. I am serious about that aspect of the matter because it is an important issue for an island nation that is on the geographic periphery of Europe. Every comment on renewable energy, gas or oil is always preceded by a "but". I have heard it in this Chamber all day. That must stop. We must be honest with ourselves.

I ask the Minister of State to urge the Cabinet to examine the warmer homes scheme. It has been successful through the SEAI. Between 3,800 and 6,000 jobs have been created through the scheme, in particular for the external insulation of homes. As he is aware, the funding, which was enhanced by the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, by up to €99 million has been reduced in the budget to €64.6 million. People have come to me who are most concerned. Because the grants for external insulation in particular have been reduced to €1,800 and it is on the basis of the type of house, people are not taking up the scheme. Worse than that, what is happening is that we are seeing this area go into the black market where sub-standard materials are being brought in from continental Europe and jobs are being done for cash on houses that are not properly certified. I fully support the Minister of State's position on major infrastructural investment but given that up to 6,000 jobs have been created in the sector, which are badly needed because of the fall in construction work, it is a retrograde step to take a third off the budget. We could lose up to 2,000 jobs in the sector in the course of the year.