Renewable energy firms have criticised the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, for failing to attend the national power conference, which had speakers from the UK and the German-Irish chamber of industry and commerce.
The chairman of the Irish Wind Energy Association, Mr Tim Cowhig, said the lack of a Department representative compounded the sense of "abandonment and neglect" felt by his sector.
"If they are not prepared to listen to the issues we have, that creates problems," he said.
Mr Eamon O'Neill of Distributed Energy said: "The meeting was a good opportunity to get everyone together and not having a Department representative there was a missed opportunity."
A spokesman for the Department for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources said he was "pretty annoyed" at the criticism. Those who had an issue with the lack of a Department representative should take issue with the conference organisers, the Sunday Business Post and IQuest, he said.
The Department's secretary general, Mr Brendan Tuohy, confirmed seven weeks ago that he could not attend in place of the Minister who was also unavailable, the spokesman explained. However, Mr Tuohy was still billed as opening the conference.
The Fine Gael energy spokesman Mr Simon Coveney spoke in his place. There was no question about a lack of commitment to the sector, the Department said.
