Question to:	John Francis Higgins
Issue:	Jobs
03.06.2009 Question sent by	Hello , Good to see you on the big screen. What´s your opinion on the Spirit of Ireland initiative and it´s potential for the West spiritofireland.org Regards
04.06.2009 Reply from John Francis Higgins	Hi I always have great regard for the doers of society. Wind energy is definitely a source that we should tap into. I have come across the site of wind turbines all over the place during my canvass; and I must say that I think they give a definite good feel of movement (a bit like listening to the ebb and flow of the tide) and look well. I do not know an awful lot of the effectiveness of the system, but the fact that they are been built means that costings are in place and that they are viable. However, I do not hear that you can buy wind energy any cheaper than conventional energy. What we need now in cash strapped Ireland is cheaper sources of petrol, gas, diesel. We can get this if we exploit our hydrocarbons. We should set up an Ireland Exploration Co and a sister company Ireland Exploration Finance Co. There are many people around that have made money from the property boom and who got out in time (Sean FitzPatrick and Lar Bradshaw, who resigned as directors of Anglo Irish Bank over hidden loans from the bank, have invested at least €25 million in a Nigerian oil project). We could keep this money in the country. Tax incentives could be offered; the Irish people could permanently own half the shares. There a thousands of products that are made from oil and gas. We could set up thousands of down stream manufacturing jobs. We could supply petrol and diesel, fertilizers, at quarter the world price to our farmers who are very hard pressed from cutbacks etc. Royalties, profits etc could be used to reduce negative equity loans of our youth; reduce our foreign debt etc etc. We could pay our way, and not be constantly running to Europe for hand outs! Money from this source could also be used to perfect wind energy systems. ! What am I doing? You can´t even give me a vote!
Source:	http://www.candidatewatch.ie/john_francis_higgins-30374-22685.html