Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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178. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the extent to which adequate alternative energy sources continue to be provided to facilitate compliance with international and national renewable energy targets in respect of the coal, gas, oil, hydro and biomass that currently contribute to the generation of energy for the national grid; if this has fluctuated in the past five years; if targets are deemed to be realistic; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21180/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The 2009 EU Renewable Energy Directive set Ireland a legally binding target of meeting 16% of our energy requirements from renewable sources by 2020, to be achieved through 40% renewables in electricity, 12% in heat and 10% in transport. Provisional figures provided by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) indicate that at the end of 2014 some 6.6% of heat demand was met by renewable sources, while at the end of 2013 some 2.8% of transport demand was met by renewable sources. The SEAI figures also indicate that the total contribution from renewable generation to gross electricity consumption last year was 22.6% with some 69.6% (both provisional figures) of electricity generated from fossil fuels.

The table, provided by the SEAI, provides data for the past 5 years (including provisional figures for 2014) on the contributions of coal, gas, oil, hydro and biomass to gross electricity consumption.