Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I hope the House will join the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy English, in congratulating the three students from Kinsale Community School - Ciara Judge, Emer Hickey and Sophie Healy-Thow - who won the top award at the Google Science Fair in California. Their project was examined the use of natural bacteria to improve crop yields by 50% in wheat and 74% in barley. That is a major achievement for Irish science, the ladies in question and Kinsale Community School.

I refer to an issue reported in last Sunday's newspapers about the delay of the launch of the Mainstream Renewable Power wind farm company on the Stock Exchange. The launch is being delayed for at least two years because wind energy is no longer competitive. The report stated: "The worldwide deregulation of the renewable energy project has caused the project to be postponed." When Mainstream Renewable Power was set up, most countries paid a fixed price for renewable energy. Since then, bar a few exceptions, including Ireland, the majority have adopted an open supply-and-demand model, which has slashed the return the company could generate from building wind farms. Will the Leader ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources whether Ireland is out of step in using inflated yields to justify wind farms, and will he emphasise the concerns, mostly held by Senators on the Government benches, that the wind farm business is out of control and damaging the environment? It may not make much economic sense, and the delay of the initial public offering of Mainstream Renewable Power for two years seems to indicate that. Will the Minister come to the House to address what prices are implied in the building of wind farms in this country if the IPO has been delayed for two years?