New council to help solve energy problems

Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Noel Dempsey today inaugurated the new Irish Energy Research Council at an event in Dublin Castle today.

The council, comprising leading academics, officials from government departments and agencies and prominent industry figures has been established to coordinate energy RTDI (research and technological, development and innovation) activities in Ireland.

“I have been concerned for some time that we needed to be doing more to understand our energy situation and to develop appropriate solutions to the many problems that we find ourselves in,” said Dempsey.

“This new council will, I hope, facilitate and enable players to do what they already do well, supported by improved coordination and analysis and some new support instruments to address the [energy] capacity issue.”

The council will advise on the development of policy for energy research, priorities for Irish energy research up to 2013 and on how energy research policy will integrate with policies for the transport, environment, agriculture, enterprise, science and education sectors.

“The various sectors of the economy are much more interdependent than they were in the past, and the solutions which we require are complex and multidisciplinary,” said Dempsey.

“We have a greater environmental imperative, together with its attendant international commitments, and we also have our concerns about security of supply and economic competitiveness.

“This demands a new and more sophisticated approach towards identifying and undertaking research.”