Dermot O'Kane, Airtricity's chief operations officer of supply, said last week that the government needs to "grasp the nettle" and issue a formal energy policy that will specify exactly how renewable energy targets can be met.

"Unless we dramatically change our mix of energy towards renewable sources, " said O'Kane, "we will continue to be faced with a major problem about exposure to fossil fuel prices and security of supply issues."

He added that, in the past three years, the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources in Ireland has grown from 1.8% of the total to just under 4%.

"We are defaulting on our energy policy at the moment, " claimed O'Kane. "We are handing it over to the energy regulator. The regulator is essentially determining the type of energy we are generating. He's allowing more gasfired generators to be built onto the system, which takes up capacity on the grid from electricity that would come from renewable sources."

However, Tim Cowhig, head of energy at Cork-based SWS, welcomed Fianna Fail's statement. He said it was good to see targets being set. But he warned it was "always easy to set targets" and also called for a firm energy policy that would enable them to be met.