Tony Mulcahy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The people who will maintain the turbines will be brought in from Denmark and Germany. They are not Irish. There will be no jobs. Will we get cheaper electricity for our industry or households? What is the actual economic benefit to the Exchequer? What money will the State, Ireland Inc., get by selling all this electricity to the UK, if the UK takes it, as Senator Clune said? I am not sure that will happen.

There is a serious problem in the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources because the Green Party’s legacy from the last Government is still in place. I mean no disrespect to Fianna Fáil. The other crew was the problem. That legacy exists and it is wind, wind and more wind. There are several biomass projects in the country, one of which I am promoting, a wood-burning industry that will create 5,000 farm incomes and provide real jobs in the construction and running of the plant and provide a renewable resource in the growing of timber to continue it. That is a closed economy in the locality. Domestic waste to energy projects, sewage waste to energy projects would also provide real jobs and income. They would provide a small amount of electricity to our grid, and locally they will provide income in closed economies. There is an absolute resistance within the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and within CER to anything other than wind. I would like the Minister of State to come back to me and say this is worth €10 billion over the next ten years to the country, this is where we will get it and these are the 10,000 or 15,000 jobs that will be created.

I have no problem with the farmer who is getting an income from this but I do not see why his or her neighbour should be discommoded without getting a shilling. If we are going to be fair to communities we must be fair to everybody in the community if they are going to be landed with these turbines in some way shape or form. If they must be discommoded there must be a compensation package to allow that to happen. I fully understand that not everyone will want to leave his or her own community. A great deal of consideration must be given to this policy before we drive ahead and put up all these turbines. Some day ten years from now the UK may turn the tap off and say it no longer wants our electricity because it has come up with another resource.