Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have just a few questions on the evidence we have heard this morning. Our island communities are in a unique position because of the clean energy for EU islands initiative. It gives them special status in progressing this transition to a zero-emission sustainable economy and not just in the delivery of electricity and energy but the overall economy.

I outlined that at the start of the meeting. We need to capitalise on the islands being part of this particular initiative and to facilitate them. Mr. Ó Maoildhia put it very well in terms of the 3 MW capacity that is on that cable and the limits in the export capacity. They would be maxed out once this turbine is constructed, which effectively prohibits the local community from engaging in microgeneration in terms of accessing the export tariff because we do not have the grid capacity there. The difficulty at the moment is, in terms of how the policy is structured across the Department and across various other Departments and the way the regulatory mechanism is structured across government, it would be easier to push water uphill than get the proposal that Deputy Ó Cuiv has put forward implemented. It requires new leadership from the Department to drive this forward. There is direct responsibility and competency in respect of electricity and broadband infrastructure within the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications. Water comes under the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage but the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications has a role in the signing off on all capital expenditure by Irish Water. The Department has more than a cursory role in investment by Irish Water. Ownership of this issue must be taken if we are going to deal with the specific bottlenecks that have been highlighted. It means the Department needs to step up to the mark in that regard.

This morning Mr. Newsome made the point that the focus of the Department is green energy. We all agree that is where the focus should be. At the moment we are spilling between 10% and 12% of all the renewable electricity we produce. It is being unused because there is not demand for it. We should prioritise the issue of green hydrogen even to deal with the problems we have at the moment, which will become multiples of that as we go forward to meet our 80% renewables target by 2030. We cannot achieve that target unless we deal with the volume of renewable electricity that is unused today. We have seen a very practical example outlined in evidence from the island communities that they are already reaching that maximum threshold. Electricity generated from any new solar panel that is installed on any of the three Aran Islands that is not used domestically will be spilled.

If we can solve the problem on the islands and use our islands as a pilot in respect of the bigger challenges that we have on the island as a whole, they will be a micro example of the challenge we have because Ireland is an isolated electricity grid. We have unique challenges in Ireland. If we can solve these problems in our island communities then we can replicate those solutions on a larger scale on the island as a whole. However, a leadership role needs to be taken in this regard. The first place we need to start is that the Minister, who has the authority, needs to direct EirGrid to provide the capacity in the electricity network to facilitate export onto our island communities. Unless that direction is issued by the him, it will not happen. That is the reality in regard to it. Unless he is prepared to issue that direction to EirGrid then, in ten years we will still be having the same conversation here. We will still be impeding the potential progress that is on our islands. We need to give that special unique treatment to the islands as part of the initiative there at EU level. That provides us with the opportunity to pilot some of these initiatives.

Mr. Newsome spoke about the work going on with the SEAI as a trusted intermediary and examining microgeneration. The reality is that these policies are currently being developed in theory and hopefully they will then be applied in practice subsequent to that. That is how the SEAI is working in this regard. Unique challenges will arise as these policies are implemented. Where better to actually apply these in practice than in our island communities? The difficulty is that what is being designed at the moment is being designed for the island of Ireland, not for our offshore islands. Mr. Ó Maoildhia put it very well this morning regarding the unique challenges that are there. The difficulty is whether we are talking about retrofitting grants, or microgeneration or community scale generation. There are unique barriers to that happening on our islands and unless we are prepared to proactively address those, none of what we are talking about here will happen in our island communities.

The representatives of the island communities have put the challenges very well in their submission. We now need to see the Department taking responsibility for using our island communities as individual pilots to crack the unique challenges we have in Ireland in respect of sustainable, green, renewable electricity. The islands should be used as a pilot that can then be replicated on the mainland. We need to see, from the Minister down, across our semi-State bodies, a proactive approach to facilitating this happening. Mr. Newsome might like to comment on that.