Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael)

I am delighted to speak on the motion. Colleagues on all sides will agree that the motion is comprehensive and allows for a wide-ranging debate on energy policy.

Coming from a farming background I wish to speak on renewable energy and land use. The primary purpose of land should be for food production. I would welcome the comments and views of the Minister on the matter. I will focus later on the number of mills, including disused mills, around the country. Food security was an extremely urgent issue in Europe at the end of the Second World War. People in this House are too young to remember rationing here. I doubt if any of us experienced the starvation endured by fellow Europeans on the Continent. At the end of two world wars European agriculture was in serious trouble. That was a precursor to the introduction of the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, under the Treaty of Rome of 1957. The CAP's main objective was to increase agricultural production to help farmers attain a fair standard of living, stabilise markets and ensure a secure supply of affordable food. The CAP has been so successful that food security almost seems redundant to today's western European citizens. However, in recent years, as global events have shown, catastrophic crises can develop almost instantaneously. We can never rest on our laurels. We must prioritise food security in Europe and here.

In that context I am concerned about the use of agricultural land for energy purposes. I am a strong supporter of alternative energy and the importance of being able to produce our own energy. That stems from the same root as the rationale of being able to produce our own food. However, where possible we should look to our vast sea and ocean capacity as a primary means of delivering alternative energy. Previous speakers referred to wind farms and wave energy. I would like to see more offshore wind and wave farms. It is important that we rapidly get to a stage where such investments pay for themselves. We need a serious public debate about alternative energy and, indeed, energy in general. The public has serious concerns about attempts to extract fossil fuels from within the State and its territorial waters. This has been made clear in recent debates about fracking and possible oil and gas exploration off the coast of Dublin and in the north east of the country. There is an obvious need for an informed public debate on how we can ensure we are able to meet our energy needs in the most self-sufficient way possible.

In south Leinster, where I live, there are three rivers. If Senators remember their school geography, they will know them - the Nore, the Suir and the Barrow - as the three sisters. There are approximately 60 mills, either used or disused, on those rivers. Very few of those mills are in flour production but some have been put to alternative uses. In my own village of Bennettsbridge, Nicholas Mosse has his famous pottery in the old mill and he generates his own electricity through the mill wheel.

Our rivers have vast potential. The people who built these mills got the best possible engineering results. They built the mills in the locations of greatest potential. At present, anyone who wants to generate electricity from an old disused mill must go through the planning process. There is nothing wrong with the planning process, but each individual applicant must commission an environmental impact study, EIS, which costs approximately €10,000. These mills were put in place with great thought and I cannot see how they could now have an environmental impact. A one-size-fits-all planning system should be put in place.

Microgeneration gives rise to another problem. A producer who generates less than 3 kW will not get onto the grid. If a producer generates less than 6 kW, it is supplied free of charge to the grid. That is a big problem. Some microgenerators could produce 2 kW or 3 kW of electricity, which would keep the generator's business running, with a surplus which is then given to the grid for free. In the United Kingdom meters are used which go backwards. Producers who over-produce for their own needs are credited on their electricity bill for the excess amount. This cannot happen in Ireland. The tariff in Ireland is 6 cent for a unit of electricity produced. In the United Kingdom it is 16 pence and in Germany it is 20 cent. in those countries, people are rewarded for generating electricity through renewable sources. The set-up costs of a microgenerator can be considerable. A tariff of 6 cent per unit does not justify those costs. Will the Minister ask purchasers of microgenerated electricity to front-load payments for a few years? This would make microgeneration economically viable. The tariff could then be reduced after five or six years when the set-up costs have been covered. These mills can produce clean energy. They were put in place by people who ran businesses. Developments in flour production caused those businesses to collapse. We should look at this alternative. These mills have mill races and mill runs. The infrastructure is already in place and could be used.

The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, is the right man to look at this situation and I commend him on his work to date. I look forward to the publication of the Government's new energy policy framework.