Shane McEntee (Meath, Fine Gael)
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Question 53: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the steps she is taking to promote wood energy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8830/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Wood biomass is one of the most versatile of renewable energy sources and has the potential to play a major role in Ireland's future energy strategy. Wood energy, in the form of logs, chip and pellet, is renewable, carbon neutral, sustainable and can be produced locally. Solid biomass, mainly in the form of solid wood, is already the largest source of renewable energy in Ireland, accounting for 57% of Ireland's total renewable energy consumption in 2004.

My Department, working in co-operation with COFORD (the National Council for Forest Research and Development) and Teagasc, actively encourages the development of the wood-energy sector through a range of support measures aimed at creating an effective and efficient supply chain from producer to end user. These measures complement more recent support schemes introduced by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources targeting the user side of the chain through the Pilot Bio-heat Boiler Deployment Programme and the Greener Homes Scheme. My Department offers 100% grants and attractive premiums for up to 20 years to encourage the establishment of new forests on agricultural land. In addition my Department supports a number of individual projects and initiatives which focus specifically on wood-energy.

During 2006 COFORD, which is wholly-funded by my Department, held a series of thinning and chipping demonstrations across the country under the banner Forest-Energy 2006, in cooperation with Teagasc, Waterford Institute of Technology, Bord na Móna and the major private forestry companies. Building on the success of this programme, Forest Energy 2007 will address the core issue of securing marketable wood fuel of acceptable moisture content for sale as wood chip and firewood. The new programme will encompass wood chip and firewood harvesting, processing, stacking and storage trials.

In terms of new schemes, details of the Wood Biomass Harvesting Machinery Scheme will be made public very shortly. The purpose of the proposed scheme is to encourage investment in wood biomass processing machinery, such as mobile chippers and forest residue bundlers.

My Department's Bioenergy Scheme offers establishment grants for up to 50% of the costs of planting willow and miscanthus as a renewable source of energy. €8 million has been allocated to this Scheme over the period 2007-2009.