Sargent furious at Coughlan?s anti-biofuel stance
Issued: 17 February 2006
Statement by Trevor Sargent
Green Party Leader Trevor Sargent TD has said that he is ?furious? at what he says is the ?anti-biofuel stance? taken by the Minister for Agriculture, Mary Coughlan TD.
Speaking after an exchange in the Dáil in which he urged Minister Coughlan to use a biofuel state car in order to help create an indigenous biofuel industry, Deputy Sargent said, ?She took it as a joke. Somehow she sees lost jobs in Ireland?s sugar beet industry as a big joke.?
The exact exchange in the Dáil is as follows
Deputy Sargent said: ?I am being serious.?
Minister Coughlan replied: ?I am aware of that. I will get a ministerial bicycle.?
?Bioethanol offers the best hope of creating jobs in the agricultural sector, particularly in Co. Carlow where the sugar factory recently closed.
?But this Government has done little to give leadership in the use of biofuels, and one can only conclude it has taken an anti-biofuel stance. Minister Coughlan?s joke on the issue shows just how much out of touch she and her Government is,? concluded Deputy Sargent.