Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I take issue with the Senator's use of the words "some sense". I was Chairman of the Joint Committee on Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture in the last Dáil when it discussed energy policy.I was also a member of the previous committee on climate change and energy security and we did a lot of work on renewable energy. There is resistance all over the country to every type of renewable energy that is available. People say they do not want it. They do not want wind energy, solar energy, anaerobic digestion or biomass. We are saying one thing and doing another. People do not want wind energy or pump storage. I can see Turlough Hill from my kitchen window. The water is pumped up at night with energy generated from off-peak wind. It is the most clean and effective of all types of renewable energy but that would not be allowed to be developed nowadays. In the late 1960s it was considered a miracle. Environmentalists would not let us do it anymore. We must be honest.

In the previous Dáil we were criticised for not harnessing enough of a share of the exploitation of natural resources so we did a big study on managing the offshore oil and gas resources with a profit resource rent tax. A lot of work was done on an all-party basis on how it should be configured. I accept there were no Green Party Members in the previous Oireachtas. The work sought to ensure there would be benefit to the State from profits accruing. I accept that we have moved on and we continue to make progress. As the opening statement outlined, this is a transition period but if we just do what the Bill suggests we will only increase our dependence on imported energy as we would be locked into that until we find alternatives. We are all at one in terms of trying to get alternatives as quickly as possible.