Opposition parties reject Government 'green spin'

Reaction:There was a mixed reaction from Opposition parties and other commentators to the Government's White Paper on energy.

Fine Gael again accused the Government of stealing its policies in proposing the separation of the national grid and the ESB, while Labour said such a break-up should be avoided.

The Green Party said the State would not meet the renewable energy targets while the campaign group Grian said the strategy was 10 years too late.

Ibec was broadly positive however, giving the strategy a "cautious welcome".

Fine Gael spokesman on energy Bernard Durkan welcomed the acceptance by Minister for Natural Resources Noel Dempsey of "another aspect of Energy for the Future, Fine Gael's energy policy, which was initially unveiled at our Millstreet conference in November 2005 and then launched in April 2006".

Mr Durkan said the Government "has constantly copied" Fine Gael policies on schools, the Garda and energy and he called for the full complement of Fine Gael energy policies to be taken on board by the Government.

Labour's Tommy Broughan said the party was "totally opposed to any break-up of the ESB or the atomisation of the company and its core grid and generation assets. The proposal to remove the transmission system from the ESB is unnecessary for competition and threatens the long-term national interest and energy security of the Irish people."

He added the proposal "opens up the appalling vista of the future privatisation of the ESB" and said a more ambitious government might have sought to have half of Ireland's electricity needs generated by renewable energy by 2020.

Green Party energy spokesman Eamon Ryan said there was "no way that we will meet either the renewables or climate change targets agreed at the European Council meeting under the existing Government's Energy Plans".

"Renewables currently account for only 3 per cent of our primary energy supply. Despite all the 'green spin' coming from the Government, the reality is that the same forecasts are pointing towards an 11 per cent renewable fuel supply by 2020 - even taking into account all the recently announced initiatives. This is just over half the binding 20 per cent target that the Government has just signed up to."

Pat Finnegan of Grian said: "Bertie Ahern is finally and belatedly acknowledging the threat from climate change", but the strategy would deliver "less than half" of the EU targets.