Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I am pleased to confirm that I recently extended the deadline for submission of drawings and other details outstanding from grant applications lodged under the Farm Waste Management Scheme by three months to end-June 2007. Under the terms of the EU state aid approval governing the Farm Waste Management Scheme, investment works must be completed and a payment claim submitted to my Department by end-December 2008.

Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 702: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of tonnes of meat and bone meal exported each year for the past ten years; the amount it cost the taxpayer to dispose of same for each of those years; her views on whether it should be used as an alternative to peat in power stations here rather than Germany; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9679/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Compilation of statistics by my Department on the production and disposal of meat and bone meal (MBM) commenced in 1999. The amounts produced each year since 1999 (the bulk of which has been exported) and the disposal costs which were incurred by the State during the years 2002 to 2006 are set out in the table below. In the wake of MBM being banned as an animal feed, and in line with the practice across most EU Member States, the Exchequer supported the livestock and meat sectors by subsidizing the disposal of MBM for a period. The costs of dealing with MBM have since been passed back to industry. During that period, my Department established and chaired an Interdepartmental Committee on possible uses of MBM, the conclusion of which was that its most suitable use would be in energy co-generation and cement production area.

There is a growing interest in using biomass including MBM as a co-fuel in peat-burning electricity plants. Promoting the increased use of MBM in peat stations would deliver financial benefits for the industries involved, reduce disposal costs and represent a significant bioenergy contribution from agriculture. In the recent 'National Bioenergy Action Plan' the Government has targeted 30% co-firing in peat stations by 2015.

The Government is open to proposals to expand the REFIT (Renewable Energy Feed In Tariff) Scheme, as necessary, to facilitate the delivery of co-firing in peat stations of 30% by 2015. The REFIT Scheme was launched in 2006 as a new renewable energy support mechanism, to provide a fixed feed-in-tariff mechanism for electricity produced from renewable energy sources at new electricity generating stations. The guaranteed prices allow project developers to attract investors or access bank debt to source and fund the required capital investments.