Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is great that we have the Minister here this afternoon. As other Senators have said, the Minister has a unique portfolio which takes into consideration energy, communications, natural resources, broadcasting, inland fisheries and, in another few weeks, the environment. In fairness to the Minister, he has a very large portfolio and there is no better man to take care of it.

Over recent years, there have been major changes in the energy market. The Brexit vote could have an impact on where those changes happen. At the moment, we have a single electricity market between Ireland and Northern Ireland. A Bill is to come before the House at the end of the month which will tie into a European target model. There will be issues which we will need to examine. The Minister and his Department will probably have issues regarding where the European target and model will work regarding Brexit. We have two interconnectors between here and the UK, but no major interconnector between here and mainland Europe. Where does the European policy fit in, if we are on the leg of Europe? That is one of the key issues. As an energy consumer and as a nation, we need access to the mainland European market if we are to be competitive. How can we do it? One of the key issues is the competitive nature of it. The targeted model will give us a more competitive nature if we can tap into it. However, we lack an interconnector with France. The Minister, with the forthcoming energy Bill, which will firm up our connection with Northern Ireland, will hopefully consider the other long-term issues regarding how we can connect with mainland Europe.

I welcome the Minister's statement yesterday regarding taking the broadband plan to Cabinet. The Minister has taken the right approach. He has been proactive. At the end of the day, it is about delivering on the ground. People want and need broadband and do not care what the technicalities are. In rural Ireland, in places such as Minane Bridge, where I live, or in rural areas like Goleen - I often quote former Deputy Paddy Sheehan, who will jump up and down and tell me not to quote him again - people are crying out for good broadband. This will give people hope. It is about delivery. In a few months' time we will know when delivery will happen on the ground. That is positive. It is what people want. They want people to make decisions and not just produce reports. I welcome the Minister's statement on broadband.

Amazingly, when one talks about broadband, people always raise the mobile phone coverage and say that, while broadband is one issue, their phones do not work. It is a core issue in rural Ireland. It even affects part of the motorway. If one travels from Cork to Dublin on the motorway, how many times does one drop a call? It is significant. It is not what it is all about. We must at least ensure that people can take calls all along our main thoroughfares. Unfortunately, we do not have that at the moment.

While every household can consider energy efficiency, maybe we should examine internally what we can do as a State. In my own neck of the woods, through working on the energy efficiency issue and the national energy efficiency action plan, last month Cork County Council became the first local authority to receive the ISO 5001 accreditation and has set the standard as a local authority. I compliment the manager, mayor and others in the local authority on delivering it. We must ensure that other local authorities drive on. The standard has now been set and it is up to the Department to ensure that every local authority reduces its energy usage. They must return to 2009 levels, which realistically requires them to cut energy use by one third.There are significant challenges in trying to deliver on issues like that.

One of the other issues proposed in Cork in recent years was the "drive for zero" programme, trying to encourage people to use electric cars. That worked with the businesses and the providers, and it also worked with the local authorities, which provided free car-parking spaces and additional charging spaces. The Minister needs to get all the stakeholders around the table to drive the issue. While there has been extensive talk about electric cars, it needs a stimulus and someone to tie all the stakeholders together to deliver it. In many ways the "drive for zero" programme is something that could be introduced throughout the country. If we were to provide free car-parking spaces in town centres for electric cars, more people would consider it a logical form of transportation. We need to get everyone thinking on the same page in order to deliver it.

Obviously, one of the key issues for the State will be our oil refinery. Whitegate is a key part of that. We need to establish the status of Phillips 66 and the proposed change of ownership. It is an issue for the entire island; we need to have an oil refinery. We need to ensure this oil refinery will stay operational in the coming years. I do not believe it should be in public ownership, but we should ensure that the new owners will develop the refinery so that it can go to from strength to strength.

The Minister is in charge of very many issues. I believe he will use his 20 years of experience in public life to great benefit because he will need to tie all these entities in the State together to deliver. That will be a major challenge in many ways. I wish him the best. I believe he is the appropriate man for the job. As he said, it is about tying everyone in together and delivering on the day.