Mr Ryan said: "The paper presents a series of questions rather than any firm proposals. The government is reacting to the controversy that has surrounded the development of wind power and the electricity grid by pulling back from any ambition to reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuels. Even in non-controversial areas, such as the retrofitting of existing buildings, the level of activity has halved under this government, and there is no clear commitment to ramp up our level of investment.
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"The paper calls for greater civic engagement in understanding the energy challenge, but it presents no bold plan to increase public ownership of new power supplies. It avoids any hard questions about the closure of our peat and coal-fired power stations. It says little or nothing about the trading of power with our neighbours. Those real issues of contention are being parked until after the local and European elections, and the next step is going to be shaped more by internal Labour and Fine Gael party politics than any long-term vision for our future.
"The lack of vision is all the more lamentable when strategic threats and opportunities in the energy area are becoming increasingly clear. Our reliance on expensive and insecure gas and oil supplies has to be reduced, and if we are to take climate change seriously, we know we will have to fully decarbonise our power system within the next few decades. An economic opportunity clearly exists if we were to become a leader in the development of new, clean energy technologies."
(CD/MH)
