Mr. Matthew Collins:

I want to provide some clarification to Deputy Bríd Smith, who asked about project development timelines and questioned why are we chasing projects that take seven or eight years to develop. Last week the IEA outlined how Europe would have a deficit of 80% of its gas needs by 2040. In the context of meeting the obligations of the Paris Agreement, there will still be a need within Europe for gas and oil, which will carry on beyond 2050. While the projects will come on stream before that, there will be an ongoing need for the provision of fossil fuels, both within the energy system and for feed stock. It is important that we do not ignore what the models and scenarios are indicating to us. When we make plans we expect to see a level of need for those energy sources. The project timelines are consistent with that.

I thank Deputy Ryan for his appreciation of the ObSERVE programme. It is quite a major programme. A number of queries were raised about the energy needs of Ireland in the future. I do not want to speak on behalf of University College Cork, UCC, but it would probably benefit the committee to have UCC respond to some of the questions raised, in terms of whether its scenarios are compliant with the Paris Agreement. It could address that important question. It provides a lot of information about how we we can develop our energy system in a manner compliant with the Paris Agreement obligations, which is very informative. It is important to remember, when we are talking about the Paris Agreement commitments, that the agreement does not seek to prohibit fossil fuels. It has a temperature objective, and the focus is on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The aim is not to eliminate fossil fuels, but rather to eliminate the emissions of greenhouse gases that have an impact on the temperature objective.