Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tugaim faoi deara go raibh díospóireacht an-mhaith ins an Seomra seo Dé hAoine seo chaite ar chúrsaí Thuaidh-Theas, agus fáiltím roimhe sin. Is maith an rud é. On a number of occasions since entering the Seanad I have called for an invitation to be extended to the First Minister and Deputy First Minister in the North to address the House. The Leader has indicated that he is amenable to sending such an invitation. I ask for an update on the current position of the discussion, which would be useful in the context of the statements that are made from time to time on the economy in the Six Counties. We could raise these questions directly with the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister.

I call for a debate with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources on renewable energy and the exploitation of natural resources. International experts have estimated that 20% of Ireland's energy needs could be met by renewable energy by 2020, a proportion which increases to 80% by 2050, and that 20% of our GDP could be derived from exports of clean energy. Investment in tidal energy and renewables could lead to a renewables revolution and create thousands of green jobs throughout the country. Sinn Féin receives the occasional jibe about what we do in the North but we have delivered on this agenda in the Northern Executive in co-operation with the other parties. We recently published the offshore renewable energy strategic action plan and attracted significant investment in this area, including an announcement last week of a project in which Bord Gáis and OpenHydro will develop a 100 MW tidal array off Tor Head on the north coast in County Antrim. Stormont is delivering on renewable energy and our target is to provide 40% of electricity supplies from renewable sources by 2020.

The report by the Joint Committee on Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture on our oil and gas licensing regime does not appear to have gone anywhere. It is imperative that the Minister tells us how he intends to progress the report. Our licensing regime is more amenable to oil and gas companies than most of the western world and a plethora of wind farms are planned for the west coast, despite extensive local objections. Senator Kelly brought forward a Bill on wind turbines. The Leader might indicate when we will take Committee Stage of that Bill. It appears to be stuck in a departmental quagmire at present. A debate on these issues would be very useful.