Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 1 Jun 2005

Vol. 603 No. 4

Adjournment Debate.

Alternative Energy Projects.

Mr. Crawford

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the chance to raise this very important issue. I could not help raising the matter after listening to the Taoiseach speak at the launch of the wind power plant off the coast of Arklow last week. He made it clear that he wished something could be done to ensure wind power would be fully utilised and that we would have a scheme in place shortly.

It reminded me that when AERVI licences were given out over two years, a commitment was given by the then Minister to those who failed to get licences that they would get an opportunity to proceed with their schemes through some other mechanism in a very short time. However, this has not happened yet and it needs to be dealt with urgently. For example, on Bendoo Mountain in the Kill area of County Cavan, 28 farmers have come together to provide sites for 33 or 35 wind turbines. This arrangement had been sorted out legally, planning permission had been granted and the application was made. However, the company has not received the go-ahead for the scheme or any support.

I raise this issue for two reasons. We have a serious problem with the cost of electricity and the cost of the fossil fuels that provide it. However, there is also an onus on this country at European level to provide as much green energy as it can. Second, those farmers understood three years ago that they would be in a position to get a reasonable additional income from their mainly poor quality farm land. An income from wind power would be an additional bonus for them that they could depend on each year.

It makes economic sense for Ireland to encourage the building of a significant percentage of renewable generation plants, confined not just to windmills but to other renewable sources. This would be at a known fixed cost and would therefore provide a hedge or insurance policy against volatile fossil fuel prices. Ireland is much more vulnerable to fossil fuel prices than its European competitors, with 97% of its electricity derived from fossil fuels. There should therefore be support mechanisms which would promote the maximum exploitation of Ireland's key natural renewable source, which is wind. This should be targeted in both on-shore and off-shore projects. We saw the opening of an off-shore plant the other day.

Given that Ireland is moving towards an all-Ireland energy market and an all-Ireland electricity market in 2007, it makes sense to realign renewable energy support in the Republic with that applying in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland has just introduced the UK system of renewable obligation certificates, a market-based support mechanism whereby all electricity suppliers are forced to buy certificates from renewable generators. The cost of the ROC system then acts as a support for renewable generators.

We must ensure that all possible renewable energy is used in this country. We must no longer allow those individuals who wish to develop renewable energy to move to Scotland, Spain, the US and other places to do the work they want to do here. I hope the Minister of State tells us that aid will be made available at a level that will justify establishing these very valuable sources of energy. I welcome whatever good news the Minister of State has.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food (Mr. Browne)

I welcome the opportunity to clarify for the House the steps this Government is taking to support the greater use of renewable energy technologies and future proposed actions. The Government fully recognises the importance of reducing our dependency on non-renewable fuels, whose prices are subject to the vagaries of global markets, and certainly the energy markets. We have taken a number of innovative measures to which I shall return.

In addition, from a national economic perspective not just an energy policy or environmental perspective, increasing the amount of renewable energy in the system will help in substituting costly fuel imports and in dealing with levels of uncertainty in the future evolution of energy prices. It will also assist in providing a more balanced fuel mix.

The Green Paper on sustainable energy, published in 1999, set a challenging target to add 500 megawatts of new renewable energy-powered electricity generating plant to the electricity network.

That target was subsequently increased by this Government to 728 mw. In addition, specific categories of offshore wind and biomass fed combined heat and power plants were added to ensure those technologies also are explored. An accelerated payment method was also introduced to further reassure investors of the growing opportunities available from investing in renewable energy technologies. These departmental actions were supported by actions of Sustainable Energy Ireland to place various reports and a wind atlas beneficial to all potential applicants in the public domain. Further support for innovative proposals is available under the dedicated research demonstration and development programme operated by Sustainable Energy Ireland. Additional practical support and advice is available from the renewable energy information office located in Bandon, County Cork. These centres are also supported by energy agencies located in some local authority areas whose programmes are funded or co-funded by Sustainable Energy Ireland.

In December 2003, a consultation paper was published to hear the views of all interested parties on future support mechanisms and targets. This was followed by the establishment of a renewable energy development group which included representatives of this Department, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the Commission for Energy Regulation, the network operators, the scientific community, the ESRI and representatives of both project developers and electricity suppliers. This is a broadly representative group and its work is reaching a conclusion.

However, my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, again demonstrating the urgency the Government attaches to the accelerated development of renewable energy technologies, satisfied himself on the basis of interim reports that there was sufficient consensus to announce certain conclusions. On 7 April last, addressing the annual conference of the Irish Wind Energy Association, the Minister announced future capacity requirements for renewable energy electricity generating capacity, broadening of the support mechanisms to include all supply companies in the market and changing the support mechanism from competitive tendering to a fixed price tariff.

The target announced by the Minister is to have more than 1,400 MW of renewable capacity built and operating on our electricity system by 2010. This will require us to more than double in five years what was delivered in the previous decade. Previous support contracts were exchanged between the ESB and successful applicants and the additional costs were recovered by the ESB through a public service levy. The electricity market is now a fully liberalised market and project developers are free to contract with any licensed supplier. The suppliers will be assured they will receive compensation on terms which match those already available to the ESB customer supply.

The most significant announcement by the Minister, Deputy Dempsey, was that the support mechanism will change from a competitive tendering process to a fixed price system. This announcement has received positive responses from representatives of project developers. I have already mentioned the support programme involves a public service levy, which is imposed on all electricity customers. There is, therefore, particularly in the case of a fixed price support mechanism, an onus on the Minister to ensure that the price imposed will deliver a reasonable and fair rate of return to project developers while ensuring that the interests of national competitiveness and the ultimate burden of cost to the final consumer are fully taken into consideration. The Department is finalising some finer details of the new support mechanism with the Commission for Energy Regulation and I expect that these discussions will be finalised shortly.

Family Support Services.

Mr. Costello

This matter relates to the Hill Street family resource centre and the threat to its existence. Today, five staff in the centre were put on protective notice. There is a need for a commitment of €250,000 annually to keep the centre running.

The centre provides services to 125 families with children aged up to five years of age in the north-east inner city. A public meeting is planned for 9 June as a last ditch attempt to garner public support for action to preserve the centre. Time is running out because the funding has run out.

The centre was established on the basis of what was called the integrated services process. The idea was that a resource in an area, particularly a disadvantaged area, would be taken up by multi-agency groups and used for the benefit of the local people. In this case, it was largely the local authority, the health board, which is now the Health Service Executive, and the Department of Education and Science. The Garda and the probation and welfare service were also involved. It provided a marvellous resource for young children and their parents in terms of support and intervention services and information. It was exactly what was needed in the area.

The funding was provided on an ad hoc basis from the beginning. The problem arose when RAPID was initiated in 2001. It promised a great deal but it also meant the existing sources of funding were eroded. Nothing transpired from the promises from RAPID in 2002 and 2003. A crisis was reached in 2004. There is no mainstream source of funding and no means of sustaining existing services.

Urgent action and commitment are required from the Government. This is a physical resource that includes buildings, a playground and other facilities that have been taken on by the community and the multi-agency services. The HSE is now prepared to be the lead agency if the funding is forthcoming. However, without a commitment to long-term funding it is certain that this centre will close. It would be a terrible shame if a necessary facility such as this should cease to exist. The families will be disadvantaged by it, not to mention the staff who will lose their jobs. This centre represents the type of integrated initiative that has major benefits for a disadvantaged area.

I urge the Minister to offer us succour by stating that he is prepared to provide long-term funding, that the funding will be mainstreamed and that the crisis threatening the closure of the Hill Street family resource centre will be averted.

Mr. Browne

Hill Street family resource centre, based in inner-city Dublin, has been in receipt of funding since 2000 under the family and community services resource centre, FRC, programme, which is administered by the Family Support Agency. All FRCs are funded on the basis of three-year renewable contracts, subject to satisfactory progress being made. Under its current contract, Hill Street FRC received funding of €81,372 in 2003, €93,900 in 2004 and current year funding will amount to €93,000. Funding is also provided to the FRC from other sources.

The centre's current contract with the Family Support Agency expires at the end of 2005 and will then be subject to renewal in accordance with the normal terms and conditions of the programme. FRC performance over the contractual period is monitored on an ongoing basis. Where difficulties arise, the agency's policy is to work with all concerned to try to resolve them. Withdrawal of funding is rare and would only occur if all other efforts at resolution of the difficulty have been exhausted.

The agency is aware that the centre is experiencing some difficulties. Management of the centre has requested that the Family Support Agency become the lead agency for this project. The agency funds 77 centres in the family and community services resource centre programme and expects this number to increase to 100 by the end of 2006. It would not be in a position to become a lead agency for any family resource centre.

Staff from the agency met the management committee of Hill Street FRC on 20 May last to discuss the difficulties the centre is having. Tosach, the regional support agency which provides day-to-day advice to the management under the FRC programme, also attended the meeting. Following the meeting Tosach prepared an action plan to address the issues discussed and has recently submitted this to the Family Support Agency where it is being examined. Once this examination is complete, the Family Support Agency will engage in further discussions with Hill Street family resource centre, in conjunction with Tosach, with a view to finding a satisfactory solution.

Schools Refurbishment.

Mr. Finneran

I compliment the Minister on the great work she is doing in the education sector and on the programme of development taking place. My constituency has been the beneficiary of her largesse in that area. I visited Lisacul national school two months ago at the request of the principal, Tomás Ó Moráin, and the chairman of the board, Fr. John O'Rourke. I met the staff, pupils and the parents' representative. I saw that this was a school with a serious overcrowding problem and poor conditions. It is greatly in need of a refurbishment programme and an extension.

My greatest concern was that it seemed that nothing had happened since March 2001. The discussion on the development of the school has stood still since that time. Obviously, the board of management, teachers and parents are very concerned by this. I put this motion before the House so we can move the process forward with a view to accommodating the interests of the school and board of management.

Lisacul national school is a three-teacher school with 68 pupils as at September 2004. The school board of management submitted various plans to the Department but the plans were returned because, to some extent, the Department decided on a different course of action to the board of management. That has been the position for some time.

While the Chief Whip, Deputy Kitt, will reply on the motion, I ask the Minister to provide clarity on this matter and to move the process forward with a view to ensuring that this school is definitely included in the 2006 programme. For that to happen, certain other developments must take place before the end of this year, namely, agreed accommodation and planning permission must be in place. I hope, following this debate, that I can report to the locality of Lisacul national school that the Minister's office will move the process forward, which I have no doubt it will.

I will not delay the House as other Members have matters to discuss. However, this issue has been brought to my attention publicly. The community in the locality of the school are very supportive of this development and have requested me, as their Deputy, to highlight their case and to ask for the direct intervention of the Minister to move the process forward.

Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach (Mr. Kitt)

I thank the Deputy for raising the urgent matter of Lisacul national school. It affords me the opportunity on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science to outline to the House the strategy of the Department for capital investment in education projects and also to outline the position regarding the application received in the Department for additional accommodation at Lisacul national school, Castlerea, County Roscommon.

Modernising facilities in our 3,200 primary and 750 post-primary schools is not an easy task given the legacy of decades of under-investment in this area as well as the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth. The Government has shown a sincere determination to improve the condition of our school buildings and to ensure that the appropriate facilities are in place to enable the implementation of a broad and balanced curriculum.

We have progressively increased funding for the schools modernisation programme in recent years to achieve our goal, with an aggregate total of almost €2 billion allocated for this purpose since 1998, the largest investment programme in the history of the State. Since the beginning of the year the Department of Education and Science has made a number of announcements relating to the schools building and modernisation programme. This year alone, €270 million will be allocated to primary schools and €223 million to post-primary schools for building works. This represents an increase of 14% on the 2004 allocation.

The programmes supported will include the following: 141 major building projects already on site and a further 28 due to commence in the coming weeks; 122 major school building projects countrywide which will prepare tenders and move to construction during 2005; 192 primary schools which have been invited to take part in the small and rural schools initiative and the devolved scheme for providing additional accommodation; up to 120 schools which have been given approval to rent temporary premises pending delivery of a permanent solution to their long-term accommodation needs; 43 schools which have been authorised to start architectural planning of their major projects; 590 schools which were recently given approval to complete essential small scale projects under the summer works scheme; and 124 schools approved to progress through the architectural planning process with immediate effect, ranging from new school building projects to extensions and refurbishment projects, allowing for the continuous roll-out of projects under the schools building and modernisation programme.

The new schools building and modernisation programme 2005-09 will be underpinned not just by a significant increase in overall funding but also by major improvements in the administration of the funding. Devolving more funding to local level through the summer works scheme and the small and rural schools initiative will allow schools to move ahead much more quickly with smaller projects while also delivering better value for money.

I greatly appreciate the work Deputy Finneran has done on behalf of Lisacul national school. The proposed building project to convert the existing classroom accommodation to a general purposes area with ancillary accommodation and to add a new three-classroom extension will be considered in the context of the schools building and modernisation programme 2005-09. I will be glad to relate Deputy Finneran's concerns to the Minister. I thank the Deputy for affording me this opportunity to outline the position on this matter.

Fisheries Protection.

Mr. Ferris

At 10 a.m. on 27 May 2005, the Celtic Sun, vessel T160, left Fenit on a fishing voyage. On board was skipper John Moriarty and his brother Billy Moriarty. At 1.30 p.m. the Naval Service vessel LE Emer called on the Celtic Sun to cut its engines as it wished to conduct a routine boarding. Both vessels were located eight miles south-west of Loop Head, at 52° 32’ north, 10° 10’ west. The boarding officer from the LE Emer was D. Tighe, who was accompanied by a female officer.

The naval officers requested the fishing vessel's logbook. The skipper, John Moriarty, informed them that as he was on a voyage of less than 24 hours, it was not necessary to have a logbook on board. The officer said he would not accept this and that he would accompany the crew of the fishing vessel ashore. The crew asked permission to shoot the nets and to go ashore to speak with the regional officer of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources for the area. This was not accepted so they contacted a fisheries inspectorate officer, Kevin Flannery from Dingle, by mobile telephone and asked him to clarify the situation. They lost contact on the telephone but, working through the Valentia lifeboat service VHF radio, in the company of the naval officer, they again made contact with the inspector, Mr. Flannery. Mr. Flannery relayed to both the skipper and the naval officer that it is not necessary to have a logbook on board if the voyage is of less than 24 hours' duration.

The regulation concerning log books when fishing in Community waters states:

Masters of all fishing vessels more than 10 metres in length shall keep a logbook.

This rule shall not apply to vessels of more than 10 metres but not more than 17 metres in length on a fishing voyage of a maximum of 24 hours measured from the time of leaving port to the time of returning to port.

The length of the Celtic Sun is 11.95 m. It is clear, given the regulations governing fishing in Community waters, that the vessel was fishing legally and the information relayed to the naval officer by the fishing inspector was correct. A warning was issued to the crew at 2.22 p.m. in respect of them not having a log book, they were ordered to go ashore and were accompanied as far as Kerry Head. They met the fishing officer with whom I spoke on the phone. He confirmed the details I have read out.

The crew lost a day's fishing as a result of this, and it was their only day's fishing that week. They have only had three days' fishing in the past four weeks. Notwithstanding the running costs of getting to the fishing grounds, they then had to come straight back. Many other vessels of the same length, or between 10 m and 14 m, on one-day fishing trips of less than 24 hours are similarly affected. The matter must be clarified. The Departments of Defence and Communications, Marine and Natural Resources are in conflict regarding interpretation of the rules. I thank the Minister of State for listening.

Mr. Kitt

I thank Deputy Ferris for raising the matter. I will outline my Department's position on it.

The State's fishery protection capability, as provided by the Department of Defence on behalf of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources which has policy responsibility for sea fisheries protection, is delivered by the Naval Service with assistance from the Air Corps.

The main day-to-day role of the Naval Service is to provide a fishery protection service in accordance with the State's obligations as a member of the European Union. The service is tasked with patrolling all Irish waters from the shoreline to the outer limits of the exclusive fishery limit, which covers an area of 132,000 square miles. These patrols are carried out on a regular basis and are directed to all areas of Irish waters as necessary. Fishery protection activity accounts for more than 90% of all Naval Service patrol time.

The operational targeting of the protection effort is co-ordinated with the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in accordance with procedures set down in the service level agreement between the Departments. Such targeting takes account of previous history of fishing, infringements, sightings, fishing zones, closed areas and species and allocated quotas amongst other matters. A comprehensive process is in place to identify and agree patrol plans and inspection targets. The objective in all cases is the protection of the fishing assets of the State.

With regard to the incident referred to by Deputy Ferris involving the fishing vessel Celtic Sun, on Friday, 27 May 2005 Naval Service officers from the LE Emer boarded the Celtic Sun some six miles off the Clare coast and carried out a routine inspection of the vessel. It was found not to be carrying an EU logbook, which is a requirement under national and European Union legislation for all fishing vessels of more than 10 m in length. The Naval Service did not detain the vessel. The skipper was issued with a written warning and required to depart the fishing grounds and return to port to obtain an EU logbook.

There is no undue concentration by the Naval Service on fishery control in terms of the Irish fishing effort within Irish territorial waters. Obviously in numerical terms the Naval Service inspects more Irish than non-Irish vessels because there are more Irish vessels in our patrol area. However, over the past three years statistics show that the percentage of non-Irish vessels in the patrol area boarded and inspected by the Naval Service is greater than the percentage of Irish vessels so inspected. In 2004, Irish vessels accounted for 50% of vessels sighted in the patrol area but only 44% of boardings and inspections.

The overall objective Irish seas fisheries and monitoring, surveillance and control is to ensure the highest possible level of compliance by all fishing vessels with the requirement of international, EU and national fisheries law. The Department of Defence, Naval Service and Air Corps will continue to work in partnership with the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources in this regard. Co-operation with other member states will also continue to be pursued in the interests of effective monitoring, surveillance and control of all fishing activity in a consistent and co-ordinated manner across the EU.

I thank Deputy Ferris for raising this matter. We always deal with these issues late in the day. That is the official response to the matter and if he wishes to raise any other issues in the near future he should feel free to contact me.