Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. Last year I raised the European Commission's proposal to revise the renewable energy directive. I pointed out that the proposals to phase out biofuels made from EU-produced sugar beet, field corn and rapeseed would remove an income stream worth €5 billion to €6 billion per year to EU farmers, devastate rural economies, close the best immediate option for decarbonising transport and destroy investor interest in the biofuel industry.

I pointed out that by chopping and changing EU biofuel policy the European Commission has had a devastating impact on existing investments in sustainable EU biofuel production. Plants have been closed or mothballed. Investment proposals have been shelved. Jobs have been lost and thousands of farmers have lost the market for their products. In the UK alone investors have seen hundreds of millions of euro wiped off their investments.One of Spain's largest companies went to the wall. A survey of investors carried out by German industry body VDB found that 81% of those surveyed believed the Commission policy will cause a reduction in investor confidence.

The destruction of investor confidence by the Commission will have a negative impact on the efforts that have been under way to attract private investment to restart Ireland's sugar industry through joint sugar and ethanol investment. The European Commission's policy shift lacks any hard scientific evidence to back it up. The Commission has been shown to have made fundamental errors from the outset. It has literally got its sums wrong in calculating the relationship between world commodity prices and biofuel outset. I am sure the Minister is aware that the Commission's impact assessment was queried from within the Commission itself. The Commission's proposals are completely out of line with biofuel policies being followed by governments around the world. As I pointed out on the last occasion on which I raised this matter in the House, Europe's farmers, in partnership with producers of EU sustainable bioethanol, could do the following: boost farm incomes; create investment that supports rural communities; bring jobs to areas that need work; cut Europe's need to import animal foodstuffs, many of which come from GMO grains and are contaminated with antibiotics; help cut Europe's dependence on imported fossil fuels; help Europe cut greenhouse gas emissions; and reduce the pollution from road transport for so many of Europe's cities which threatens the lives and well-being of so many EU citizens.

I welcome the fact that the Minister, Deputy Naughten, recently announced that it is his intention to increase the obligation to blend crop-based biofuels into road transport fuels. I had hoped the Minister would announce he was moving in this direction when I raised this issue in my previous contribution in this regard on Commencement matters, which was perhaps last year, but it is better late than never. I ask that the Minister give the House an undertaking that Irish officials will actively support conventional biofuels in the discussions which are ongoing in Brussels between the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament, support the line taken by the member states that are resisting the attempt to phase out sustainable "first generation" biofuels, and, most importantly, commit Ireland to pressing for an amendment to the current proposals which will ensure that all biofuels produced and marketed in the EU comply fully with the sustainability provisions contained in the 2016 Paris Agreement.

I ask that the Minister make available to the House the details of the line Ireland is following in the trilogue discussions. It is so important we know what line the Government is taking on this. I thank the Minister for coming before the House.