When Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan says that Government plans to produce one-third of energy needs from renewable sources by 2020 will not meet our EU obligations to cut CO2 emissions, citizens should pay attention. This is not an academic issue. Fines for breaching our commitments will be imposed from next January and could grow to €1 billion a year if determined action is not taken. Some 90 per cent of our energy requirements have to be imported at present, nearly double the average for EU countries.
The past 10 years have been marked by political somnolence and missed opportunities as the Government failed to get to grips with energy issues and global warming. Having given binding undertakings to limit CO2 emissions or suffer financial penalties, the Government declined to introduce a carbon tax. Efforts to create effective competition within the electricity market were successfully resisted by the ESB. And measures to encourage alternative energy production were inadequate. Last March, the Government finally published a White Paper on Energy that is long on political aspirations but short on tough decisions.
The appointment of a Minister for Energy from the Green Party should cause a disturbance at Cabinet. Mr Ryan estimates that, on present trends, CO2 emissions will exceed our Kyoto targets by at least 50 per cent by 2020. As fossil fuels become scarcer and more expensive, jobs will become increasingly vulnerable. New and creative approaches will be required to protect ourselves against a threatening future.
The aim of providing one-third of our energy needs from renewable sources by 2020 may not be achieved through existing policies. Production of electricity from wind has been hampered by delays involving an Irish/British interconnector that will not be built until 2012. Leading ocean technology for the generation of electricity, developed by an Irish company, is undergoing trials off Scotland. The promotion of biomass as an alternative fuel source has lacked vigour.
It will cost money to change our dangerous level of dependence on fossil fuels. Powerful vested interests will have to be confronted. Even without the threat of global warming, growing vulnerability to disruption in oil and gas supplies demand action. Reducing our carbon footprint can serve selfish interests as well as high-minded ideals. A carbon tax is again on the agenda. And the Minister for Energy has served notice on the Government that imaginative measures will be required to protect the welfare of society.