Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to hear Mr. Burke state we will be arguing strongly against liquefied natural gas, LNG, and our strong Government policy is to not accept its import or the construction of terminals for it. I hope that case is made very strongly in Brussels.

We have fantastic potential in wind energy and we have some of the best wind speeds in Europe. We started well with the Arklow Bank in 2003 but we never went any further with our offshore wind. The Maritime Area Planning Bill 2021 is now going through Committee Stage and there are programme for Government objectives and targets for approximately 35 GW of offshore wind, which would produce more electricity than we need in the country. There is huge potential for the conversion to hydrogen and we have heard the discussion about Moneypoint and offshore development, with the possibility of Moneypoint becoming a centre for hydrogen development and technology. We could be world leaders in that respect. We could put across a very strong point by saying we do not need to import liquefied natural gas because we have massive wind potential in the country and ambition to develop hydrogen. It should be our defence and I hope that case could be made in Brussels.

Many years ago the car industry was caught out with emissions and falsification of emissions data from engines. I will not name the companies involved but they are well known. How do we guarantee in this attempt to develop low-emissions cars that it will be governed properly and we will not end up in a position where it is just about marketing? We see how successful car companies can be at marketing electric hybrid vehicles that really just lock people into fossil fuel use. They have a certain use but the marketing is very good for those. Full battery electric vehicles, however, are the only way to go. How do we ensure the vehicles will have low emissions and who will monitor the car manufacturers?