Senator Mulcahy is unavoidably absent. He is abroad but on his behalf I am presenting his draft report to the Committee.
The Commission proposals which we examined in sub-committee and which are the basis of the draft Report fall into six main headings. These are:
(1) financial measures to promote investment in solid-fuel based power stations,
(2) financial measures for inter-Community trade in power station coal,
(3) support for joint hydrocarbon-exploration projects,
(4) overcapacity in the Community refining industry,
(5) financial support for projects in the solar energy sector, and
(6) adoption of a second four year Energy Research and Development Programme.
Some of the proposals will be of considerable benefit to Ireland and I will now refer briefly to them.
Because the construction cost of solid-fuel power stations are higher than those of oil-fired installations, the Commission propose to aid investment in new solid-fuel based stations. This will benefit the ESB Shannon Estuary installation and the peat-fired installations which are due to come into operation between 1983-85. The report sets out the grants to be applied and while no final figures have yet emerged, these should be considerable. However, the proposed regulation to subsidise the price of Community coal—which is higher than world prices—will have expired before the Shannon Estuary project comes into operation. While the regulation may be extended, we point out that Ireland could only benefit in that event to the extent that it used Community rather than third-counry coal. Whether we do or not will, of course, depend on relative prices at that time.
The Commission's proposal to provide support for hydrocarbon exploration projects is certainly significant for Ireland. The background to the Commission's initiative in this area is set out in the report and we point out that one of the four projects being considered for assistance relates to exploration work off the west coast of Ireland. The prospect of Community aid for oil exploration is welcome. It may interest members to know that at present imported oil accounts for nearly 75 per cent of our total energy requirements.
The Commission proposal to support solar energy projects as a step in exploiting alternative energy sources is again very welcome. We understand that Ireland will be submitting a project and the report contains some data on it. We trust the project will benefit from the proposal. Again, the Second Energy Research and Development Programme will also benefit Ireland. We gained substantial contracts under the first programme and we certainly hope to continue to benefit under the new programme.
The remaining proposal deals with action to solve the over-capacity in the Community's refining industry. One of the solutions proposed by the Commission is to ban the construction of new oil refineries. This is a solution which we as a Committee must reject. Our single oil refinery meets only 40 per cent of our requirements and in these circumstances we would strongly oppose any proposal that would limit our right to expand our refining capacity to meet our national requirements. Moreover, we believe that Ireland must retain the right to refine any produce that our exploration programme may yield.
It may also interest Members to know that there will be a meeting of Energy Ministers on 21 December and some of the matters we have referred to in the report will be on the agenda.
I hope I have summarised the main points of Senator Mulcahy's report and I commend it for adoption.
