Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom díospóireacht maidir lenár gcuid acmhainní nadúrtha. At a time when we are seeing serious fiscal restraint, many people, particularly along the west coast, are asking what we are doing about exploiting our natural resources. A report by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture said the oil and gas licensing regime should be changed. We had statements on that matter with the Minister, although we have not yet seen any action on it.

In addition, two Bills on wind energy have been proposed by Senator Kelly, and another has been put forward by Deputy Penrose in the Lower House. There is much concern about the development of wind energy, certainly along the west coast. It is very developer-led and we seem to have a lack of cohesion and strategy at national level on licensing wind energy. I would therefore welcome a debate with the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, on how we will get the best benefit from all our natural resources, including wind, oil, gas and tidal, so that we can get more money back into the State coffers to ease budgetary pressures. That needs to be done as a matter of urgency.