Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is an honour to be here today and it is great to have the Commissioner and her team before the committee. I welcome RePowerEU and the plan to rapidly reduce the dependence on Russian fossil fuels and fast-forward the green transition. What does the Commission propose to do to support states and businesses to ramp up the production of low carbon energy products such as solar PV, offshore wind turbines, ships for deploying offshore wind, port investment in places such as Shannon and Kilrush, which are in my own county? The scale of all European countries' ambitions will only be realised and affordable if supply chains expand rapidly to meet demand. I know the Commissioner has mentioned she is aware that this must be done. Having travelled in Ukraine, Moldova and eastern Europe many times for environmental conferences, I think it would be good to see manufacturing being created in those countries which have the workforce and necessary skills.

We must see this as an emergency issue because of the war and climate change. I was involved in organising a protest intended to shut down a nuclear power plant in Sellafield in England and was also involved in starting the campaign to ban fracking in Ireland. We also have an emergency around where we source our fuels. We do not want to be stuck in a situation where we have to import fracked gas from anywhere, war or no war. Unless we understand at an EU level what a climate crisis we are in because of the war and our dependence on fossil fuels, we will be forced to use fuels we do not want to use. That is true not only of Ireland but also of other countries. We are in a state of emergency. The manufacturing of everything we need to switch from fossil fuels must also be seen as an emergency. During previous wars, when men were out fighting, we got the women into the factories. That was the case in the 1930s and 1940s. We must consider this as a similar level of emergency because otherwise we will fail and will be forced to compromise and pay people for fracked gas. When we do not want it in our country, it is not fair to say that we will take it from other countries. I feel the same about nuclear power. We must expedite this and provide financial supports to help countries to do that. We should manufacture in eastern European countries because the labour force is there. Otherwise, we are not going to able to transition and will be forced to compromise ourselves. That is my big concern. As the European Commissioner for Energy, Ms Simson must grab the bull by the horns, as it were, and consider the situation as a real emergency. We have seen what is happening with the climate irrespective of the war in Ukraine. If we do not expedite our response and treat the situation as the number one priority on the agenda of the European Commission, we will fail and will have to compromise.