Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, who is our final contributor. I thank all our guests. The regulator joined me in the committee room, while Mr. Foley and his colleagues joined us online. As we have heard, this is a highly complex area from a technical and market mechanism point of view. I said at the start of the meeting that what the committee needed to hear from the regulator and EirGrid was confidence that we will not be in a lights-out scenario. We heard that, which will be important in the years ahead.

While this is a complex issue, it is also exciting. We are moving to a position, as announced yesterday, where we will generate 80% of our electricity from renewables in 2030. That is staggering. We are already a world leader and that will continue. The CRU and EirGrid will play a pivotal role as we move in that direction. I thank them for all their efforts to date in keeping our lights on and the energy system stable. They are in many respects the unsung heroes of climate action and I thank them for that.

I am interested in much of what I heard today about opportunities, including the job opportunities that will arise in future and exciting technologies such as pumped storage. Mr. Gannon mentioned green hydrogen. The committee has discussed this issue a number of times. Notwithstanding that, we all recognise that gas will be on the system for some time to come and we need to work hard together to ensure we decarbonise as quickly as possible.