Dr. James Glynn:

In MaREI we do not advocate for specific technologies within our analysis. The need for carbon capture and storage or CO2 removal emerges by the dynamics of trying to minimise the amount of CO2 we create in our energy system. CCS, as defined across the different technologies in our model and the international models, is one of the cheapest options. As I said, without some sort of carbon dioxide removal in our national analysis and within the analysis of the IPCC, meeting Paris agreement targets becomes sufficiently more expensive and means that earlier and near-term mitigation needs to be much more ambitious and faster.

On the question of legislation, there is a note from the then Minister in the Department stating that CO2 storage cannot occur within the Irish State. Storage cannot happen, but it can be changed by, as far as I know, a ministerial decision. It is not within EU legislation. CO2 cannot be stored in Irish territories, but that does not mean it cannot be captured and exported. One of the plans is to export carbon dioxide from some industrial plants in Ireland to North Sea offshore fields like the Northern Lights project in Norway. There is a barrier to storing CO2 on Irish territory that would need to be addressed, but there is no barrier to capturing CO2 here.

On the definition of including territorial waters, I wish to acknowledge some of the ambiguity in the language. The ocean is already a carbon sink. It sinks a lot more carbon dioxide than is held in the atmosphere. There is also ambiguity around where carbon dioxide sinks in the geological sense. In Ireland, the most obvious places are the offshore depleted oil and gas fields such as in Kinsale. To include that definition of the marine environment in sinks is important.