Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his time. I know that in his role, he travels all over the country and he is up the walls so I appreciate his time. My Commencement matter is fairly straightforward. I ask him to inform the House of what plans are in place to enable farmers to have small-scale anaerobic digester plants to enable them to create their own energy. We see efforts to build giant anaerobic digester plants that are causing lots of controversy in communities where there will be no massive community benefit. For example, in Gort, not far from where I live, there are huge concerns over the biogas plant. If we could expedite the ability of farmers to construct smaller scale anaerobic digesters with a few other farmers, it would mean there would be fewer objections, the money would stay in communities, and the farmers would have lower bills.

Ireland has 13 large biogas plants and the climate action plan sets a target of delivering 5.7 terawatt hours, TWh, of anaerobic digester-based energy. No schemes operate that offer enough support to make small-scale anaerobic digesters or small-scale plants economically viable in Ireland. There are 76 anaerobic digester plants in operation in Northern Ireland. The majority of these plants produce biogas and are farm-based, with on-site combined heat and power, CHP, generators. There is a pilot project being carried out by Teagasc in Grange. This is under construction and it will research environmental sustainability, the economics of biogas and its use in the gas bid or for other uses. Three farm-scale biogas demonstration projects are in development, funded through the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which I am sure the Minister is aware of. There is no timeline on those projects. Have they begun and is there any sign of results of any kind?

If we look to countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and France, there is a big precedent for small-scale biodigesters.I visited one in Kilkenny 25 years ago. I saw farmers coming in with slurry tanks and wondered what they were doing. They were heating the local hall. Seven farmers in Kilkenny were doing this 25 years ago so there is a precedent. They heated the local hall and the hall paid the farmers. It was a brilliant initiative.

Funding is needed to subsidise farmers to create their own. Gas would have to be used locally for heat, maybe for a local hall or local district heating system. It is not effective to turn the gas into electricity, as they have discovered in other countries.

I read in theIrish Farmers' Journalduring the week of yet another big company wanting to build another big anaerobic digestion factory. Big companies do not build small; they build big only. In many rural areas where things like windfarms are built, all it does is divide communities because some people benefit and others do not. We know it is not the best fit for communities in rural Ireland. We need to bring communities together, not cause separation. A small-scale anaerobic digestion facility subsidised by the State would benefit the whole community, and not just involve giving a few quid to the local GAA and soccer clubs to try to keep people quiet while they build monstrosities.

Our own domestic supply of gas from farmers has never been more needed than now. The Ukraine war has led to Irish people paying extortionate prices for imported fossil fuel-based gas. We need to see energy created by and for communities with real community benefit. Will the Minister commit to setting up clear guidance and subsidies to help farmers to create small-scale anaerobic digesters? We need to expedite this, instead of waiting for the Government to build new ones to try it all out. There is precedent in Ireland and abroad.