asked the Minister for Energy the investment in energy conservation which has been budgeted for by the Government in the five year investment programme for European Fund support; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
34.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Energy Conservation Investment.
7.
asked the Minister for Energy the investment in energy conservation which has been budgeted for by the Government in the five year investment programme for European Fund support; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 34 together.
The Irish Intervention Programme under Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3301/86, known as the Valoren Regulation, includes significant provision for European Regional Development Fund support for energy conservation activity in the period 1987-1991.
Conservation investment amounting to £1.75 million is included in the global figure for Valoren in the National Development Plan.
Is it not the case that the Valoren Plan ends abruptly in the middle of the planning period of the Government's undertaking? Does the Minister have his own conservation plans outside of the Valoren programme which is propped up by the EC?
It is confined to North Tipperary.
Of course, I am concerned and it should ideally be the concern of everybody in the Community that we have the best possible conservation programme in energy terms. While this was accentuated very much during the two oil hikes in the seventies, it would be fair to say that the matter has retreated from the national agenda over recent years. That is perhaps understandable because quite a number of developments within the industrial sphere and, indeed the domestic sphere, have improved the situation quite dramatically so far as our dependence on and use of energy are concerned. There is still considerable room for improvement throughout the whole economy, based not just on pure economic terms but also on global environmental terms. I would be anxious to devote as much of our resources as possible within the present constraints to developing these programmes even more intensively in the future.
Does the Minister not accept that his concern about the matter is not sufficient if the Government's funding will be solely related to the Valoren Plan which stops abruptly in 1991, none of which funding has been allocated to genuine conservation but which has gone to the ESB and Bord na Móna? Would he not accept that Ireland has not made progress in conservation? We use 25 per cent more in industry on a comparative basis with the rest of the EC and have made half the gains since 1973 that the other countries have made. Does this not indicate a need for funding, planning and policy rather than just commitment in principle?
There are clearly two aspects to this. One should not convey the impression that energy conservation can be managed only by requiring the taxpayer to shoulder the introduction of perhaps new grants or facilities. We should be a little bit more grown up about it. We cannot solve all our problems by asking the taxpayer to shoulder the burden.
But the Minister's Government have a plan.
We require a very essential information programme which would indicate to all users that there is a role which the citizen, the commercial entrepreneur and all of us can play and not always want to find a solution through additional taxation and other resources.
Would the Minister not accept that it will be by Government policy that we will have improved traffic management, for example, which is an element of conservation? It can be only by Government strategy that the ESB will change their policy which is preventing the emergence of combined heat and power systems in Ireland. It is only through Government action that public buildings can gain access to the sort of services that should be available for buildings generally. These are matters on which Government policy must act. Would the Minister not agree that it requires more from him than this cant about public funds?
With reference to combined heat and power systems, the Deputy knows well that there has been a certain amount of research carried on here in this regard. Two projects were developed in the early eighties, each of which had to be abandoned on economic grounds. There is not much point in the Deputy trotting out high faluting ideas which, having been rigorously tested, have been found to be incapable of meeting economic criteria.
In general, I think we can improve the situation and as far as I am concerned, I will commit any possible resources to getting a broader understanding in my sphere of responsibility. However, may I remind the Deputy that it does not yet extend to traffic management.
Will the Minister parade his plans?
I am one of the most open of Ministers.
That is for sure.