At the informal energy council in Sofia today, the Swedish, Austrian, Danish, Portuguese and other governments indicated that they want to increase the level of ambition for renewable energy in Europe as part of the 2030 package. Given our huge renewable resources, has the Government considered joining that pro-climate action club, considering our own energy ambition for renewables? Will it support those countries in that call for Europe? Will it amend our legislative plans accordingly?

We have a lot of ambition relating to renewable energy development in Ireland. We have one of the highest contributions from wind on our electricity grid and that is growing. We have a huge funding programme under way for ocean energy research, which we want to develop into reality. I would have to see the new proposed targets and speak to the Minister involved before making a commitment on that. We would certainly look at it.