Vol. 462 No. 6
132 Mr. S. Brennan asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications his views on funding available to nuclear fusion energy research and the funding available to develop renewable sources of energy and to promote energy conservation; the amounts spent in respect of each category of research in 1994 and 1995; and the amount budgeted for 1996. [5299/96]
My Department promotes research in the areas of energy conservation and renewables with the assistance of the EU Joule energy research programme. Joule is part of the larger RTD programme, Joule-Thermie, which has a budget of 967MECU for the period of 1994 to 1998 and which operates under the EU Fourth Framework Programme. The Commission issue a competitive call for tender under this programme every two years. In 1995, and as a result of the 1994 call, 13 projects with an Irish involvement were offered support, resulting in a total financial benefit to Ireland of almost £1 million.
An amount of 840MECU has been allocated by the EU under the Fourth Framework Programme for fusion research for the period 1994 to 1998. Spending is currently running at approximately 200MECU per year. Fusion research has a long time frame and expenditure on it is not likely to impact on energy supplies for some decades and possibly for a period of fifty years. Arising from this, the EU Research Council in October, 1995, considered the question of having an external assessment of the fusion research programme carried out in order to evaluate progress to date before deciding on future strategy at the request of Ireland and the Netherlands. This assessment will include a comparison with other types of energy generation, including renewables.
Energy conservation measures and the promotion of renewable energies are essential to the development of secure and non-polluting energy supplies in Ireland. There is already a real and measurable impact from the promotion of such measures, with considerable technological advances made in recent years.
I will seek to ensure that the immediate and real benefits to be gained from research into renewables will be fully recognised in the assessment of the fusion programme and would hope that this would lead to an increased emphasis on renewables research in the future.
