Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 91: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if he will work with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to address the continued decimation of the retail service station network across the country and ensure that this critical infrastructure remains an integral part of the key national infrastructure for energy security and as a key driver of an expanding nationwide biofuels network; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11343/07]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish oil industry is fully privatised, liberalised and deregulated. There is free entry into and out of the market. There is no price control on oil products and this is to ensure that the market is fully competitive.

The Government is firmly committed to the development of an Irish biofuels market and to the increased development of bio-energy generally in Ireland. A range of initiatives are in place to support the development of a biofuels sector in Ireland as set out in the BioEnergy Action Plan and the Government's White Paper on Energy Policy. Our intention to introduce a Biofuels Obligation by 2009 will require all fuel suppliers to ensure that biofuels represent a certain percentage of their annual fuel sales.

The biofuels obligation will provide market players with long-term certainty and a more stable investment climate. The obligation underpins the commitment by the Government to the development of a biofuels market in Ireland, and will build on the success of the two biofuels excise relief programmes rolled-out in 2005 and 2006. One of the aims of the Biofuels Mineral Oil Tax relief schemes is to mainstream the availability of biofuels within the existing fuel station supply network. Current trends in the petrol station network are a matter for the commercial companies themselves.