Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I should say I have allowed a piece of land I own to be part of a planning application for renewable generation. I say that so there is no question of not declaring that fact. I do not think it prejudices me but I want to put it out there.

It is important to go back to the definition of "energy security" to underline the Minister's point. It is "uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price". The price crisis the Minister has outlined is important to this discussion. I thank those in the room for their commitment and passion, working under intense pressure for a long time in a very different situation from the central prediction of where we would be in trying to plan our energy. The war, the heatwave and Covid have been significant. I acknowledge the work people around this table are doing.

This is a crisis. There is a famous quote from Rahm Emanuel to the effect that we should not waste a crisis and that it is a time to do great things. Are there urgent things we should be doing concerning which, up to now, there have been barriers, inertia and reluctance, but which we should be putting plainly on the agenda in a crisis situation? Do we need a national resilience campaign in the face of the extraordinary change which will occur over the coming winter? I think of things like smart meters not being fully utilised because of data restrictions. Should we be finding a way through that? Smart controls are in 1.5 million of our homes. They do not have that. We do not promote sharing platforms. Should we re-examine remote working and the hubs and use this period to make significant changes?

I do not have all the knowledge but the circular economy, on which I have done some work, is about rethinking the way we do things. This is a unique opportunity and I think the public are with us in this. They know the Government cannot compensate them for everything that is happening but sectors should be willing to step up to significant change in the way they think about their activities. That is my primary question.

If we go to a system where, as the Minister described, the pricing of fossil and renewables is different, how disruptive would that be to the way we have managed our affairs? Has thought been given to how we make that transition? That would be making sure wind or solar is not excessively rewarded at a time when gas prices are very high. It would go to the windfall issue.

I have a very specific question. Is it possible to mandate that vulnerable users, however they are defined, would be provided the most competitive available regime for their situation?

There is a danger that we portray the data centres as the villain in all this. While there are short-term difficulties in meeting the demand in the system, in the long term Ireland will generate substantial wind energy off our Atlantic coast.

We have built a significant competitive advantage in the whole data management area. It is not against our interests to see data management being done in Ireland. The question relates to the short-term constraints it imposes on us. We need a strategy that is both short and long term for what is a genuine opportunity in the long term but is a short-term pinch point for us at the moment. That is something to try to keep in mind.