Call for Govt to boost fossil fuel taxes

The Government has been urged to increase fossil fuel taxes as an environmental boost.

An organisation representing wind farms nationwide made the plea at their annual conference in Ennis.

The Irish Wind Energy Association said the tax move should be authorised to secure extra revenue that would subsidise investment in more wind power in Ireland.

The Government has already set a target of producing 500 megawatts more power through wind generation by the year 2005.

Currently the country has 18 wind farms, most of them sited along the more exposed western coastline of Ireland, generating 120 megawatts.

There are plans, though, for more wind stations, some of them located off Dublin and Wicklow.

But the Wind Energy Association today warned the wind-generation target would not be met without a number of incentives to increase it.

As well as the fuel duty rise, they called for the setting of a "reasonable" fixed price for wind-power and simplified regulations for dealing with planning applications for new generating sites.

Responding at the conference, Junior Public Enterprise Minister Joe Jacob confirmed that the Government is about to launch "the country's largest renewable electricity programme".

The scheme, he added, would provide market support for 255 megawatts and contribute towards meeting Irish obligations under the Kyoto Protocol by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation.