Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 84: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources his plans or proposals to increase the availability and use of bio-diesel or ethanol, directly or blended with other fuels, with a view to compliance with in the first instance, the Kyoto principals and the need to implement enhanced measures to combat global warming; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5416/07]

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 96: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources his proposals to develop biofuel production as a rural enterprise; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42856/06]

Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 104: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the number of requests he has received for an increase in the quota of excise free bio-diesel or ethanol; if his attention has been drawn to a number of disappointed growers who are not included due to the restrictive nature of the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5431/07]

Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 121: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the amount of bio-diesel or ethanol produced here in each of the past five years; the projections for the future; the degree to which these projections are expected to be met in view of the urgency to provide home produced alternative fuels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5432/07]

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 164: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the amount of tax relief that has been given to date for the sale of biofuels in the market here; the main fuel types that have been the beneficiary of such tax breaks; and the country of origin of those various fuels by volume. [5358/07]

Joe Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 176: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if the Government will adopt the binding minimum 10% target for biofuels by 2020 as recently recommended by the EU; if so, the measures he will introduce to accelerate the contribution of biofuels to the Irish fuel mix; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5461/07]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 84, 96, 104, 121, 164 and 176 together.

The development of an Irish biofuels market and the increased development and deployment of bio-energy resources in Ireland is a key priority for the Government. A range of initiatives are in place to support the development of a biofuels sector in Ireland. On Monday 12th February I signalled my intention to introduce a Biofuels Obligation by 2009, which will require all fuel suppliers ensure that biofuels represent a certain percentage of their annual fuel sales. In announcing the obligation, I have also committed to achieving 5.75% market penetration of biofuels by 2009, in advance of the date proposed for such a target in the EU Biofuels Directive. I have also committed to achieving 10% market penetration of biofuels in Ireland by 2010.

The introduction of the Biofuels Obligation will build on the success of the two biofuels excise relief schemes which were rolled out in 2005 and 2006. The 2005 pilot scheme has resulted in eight projects being awarded excise relief for a two year period including four pure plant oil, three biodiesel or other biofuel and one bioethanol proposal.

Under the pilot scheme in the biodiesel category there were 881,450 litres produced in 2005 and 41,685 litres produced in 2006. In the bioethanol category there were 12,336 litres produced in 2005 and 1,192,557 litres produced in 2006. Overall under the pilot scheme excise relief to the value of €1.562m has been given to the end of 2006 under the pure plant oil, biodiesel and bioethanol categories, all of which were produced in Ireland.

The second Biofuels Mineral Oil Tax Relief Scheme, valued at over €200m, was launched in July last year and will enable us to reach the initial target of 2% market penetration of biofuels by 2008. There were sixteen successful projects under the second scheme including three pure plant oil, four biodiesel, four bioethanol and five in the captive fleets category. The majority of the sixteen successful applicants in the scheme either have existing production facilities in Ireland or are planning to develop production facilities in Ireland. The scheme will underpin the production and use of some 163 million litres of biofuels each year and will reduce CO2 emissions by 250,000 per annum when fully operational.

In the three months since the results of the scheme were launched, over 300,000 litres of biofuels have been placed on the market. This is in addition to the biofuels placed on the market under the pilot scheme. Scheme II will be followed by the introduction of the biofuels obligation, which will achieve market penetration of 5.75% per annum. I have no reason to believe that these targets will not be met.

The Biofuels Mineral Oil Tax Relief Schemes were rolled out as competitive calls for proposals. They involved an open and transparent process in which the scoring mechanism was published as part of the application form and accompanying documentation. The schemes were the subject of State Aids applications which were approved by DG Competition. Under State Aids Rules the process must be open and fair and subject to single market rules.

The EU transport fuel market is fully liberalised and EU rules do not allow for positive discrimination. Neither could preference be given to any participants within the competition by virtue of the origin of biofuels or biofuel feedstocks, or by the size or nature of the company applying for excise relief. While my Department has not received any specific written requests to increase the quota of excise relief available, officials have discussed the range of future policy options with a number of disappointed applicants, including the option of a biofuels obligation.

The Obligation requirement which I announced on Monday sets out the long term demand strategy for the biofuels sector and this will allow all market players, including those who applied under Scheme II to make appropriate investment decisions. The specific details of the biofuel obligation scheme will be the subject of public and industry consultation later this year and will be followed by the appropriate legislation. In addition to measures to increase the penetration of biofuels, farmers are also being incentivised by a new €6 million bioenergy scheme to top-up the EU energy crop premium, announced last week by my colleague, the Minister for Agriculture and Food. Under this scheme, farmers will receive an additional €80 per hectare on top of the existing €45 premium.

Ireland currently has 400,000 hectares of land under tillage and 75,000 hectares of land would be required if all of the 2% target were to be met from indigenous crops. By establishing targets of 5.75% and 10% market penetration by 2010 and 2020, we are clearly creating a market framework in which Irish farmers have significant opportunities to participate. The forthcoming National BioEnergy Action Plan will set the agenda for collective delivery over the next five years and beyond of the bioenergy potential across the agriculture, forestry, enterprise, transport and energy sectors.