Madam, - Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan announced last Friday the abandonment of biofuels plans introduced by the then Minister for Natural Resources Noel Dempsey as recently as February 2007.
This he is doing, he says, in the interest of reducing global food prices.
On July 9th last Mr Dempsey as Minister for Transport, in negotiations with the Irish Road Haulage Association (of which I am a council member) in an effort to forestall demonstrations and blockades by hauliers, wrote to the association in response to issues raised with him by the IRHA.
Under the heading of biofuels, Mr Dempsey stated "it has been verified that there is no cap on the production of biofuels" and "there is a 40 per cent grant available towards the conversion of vehicles", neither of which statements is true.
Currently my company is unable to purchase supplies of rape seed oil from a farmer who is a willing supplier of indigenous Irish oil as he has not received (despite investing €500,000 in equipment) the necessary licence to sell his oil for use as a motor fuel under Mr Dempsey's Motor Oil Tax Relief Scheme (MOTR II). However, he is able to sell his oil to the UK.
In the meantime, those who did receive the necessary licences continue to import oils such as palm oil for mixing with other products to produce the far less environmentally friendly biodiesel or are simply acting as middle men, producing nothing, buying in oil and using their licence to sell it on at a profit.
The inaction of Mr Dempsey and now Mr Ryan to amend the MOTR II regulations is directly contributing to the rise in global food prices.
This country has licensed the importation of Indonesian palm oil and US corn oil Ethanol which is contributing directly to the increase in global food prices.
Ironically then, the licensing of companies to import biofuel whilst failing to licence our home producers is having the exact effect he claims to be concerned to mitigate.
Germany has over 60,000 HGVs running on rape seed, Holland is now pioneering a city bus powered by RSO.
This country can produce enough oil to run 5,000 HGVs in the area that previously grew sugar beet alone, giving us a national strategic resource, wealth to our farmers, reducing both our balance of payments and liabilities under Kyoto, improving soil quality and producing a by-product of high-quality animal feed (more import substitution).
Those that can produce are not looking for subsidy, simply a licence to sell rape seed oil as a motor fuel.
Solutions to our global environmental issues are going to come from thinking globally and acting locally.
What is urgently needed is clarity and action from Mr Ryan as to what the Government's plans for biofuel are, a plan he is directly responsible for producing.
He has abandoned the Government's biofuel targets, Plan A.
It is not acceptable that he has failed totally to tell us what Plan B is. Or is it simply that it does not exist? - Yours, etc,
JERRY KIERSEY, Blessington, Co Wicklow.