Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I ask the CRU to answer the Senator's last query and to indicate whether it has done an analysis in regard to that matter.

On the potential role of offshore exploration, many commentators are saying that if only we had offshore oil and gas exploration, we would be out of this problem. I do not believe that is true. Of the 160 or 170 times we have drilled at real expense for hydrocarbons, we found them to be commercial three or four times. The easier and more obvious sites have been picked so everything after this is a 50:1 outside bet, hugely expensive and is not the future. It does not give us security and is not likely to deliver gas or oil any time soon.

As I said, the State sticks to what it says. We said we would not issue any new licences, we would treat all of the existing licences within the terms of those licences and we would do exactly what we have always done to assess the ability of the developers to adhere to the conditions of the licence, as set out in legislation. This is what my Department has correctly done and will continue to do. There is no favour shown and no straying from the provisions we have already provided for but there is no certainty that would deliver even if a project were to proceed.

In terms of other infrastructure, the Senator is right that the Kinsale platform has been taken away and it was one of four sources. We have a legacy and history in this country of mining in other areas where we did not mediate and left sites, with the result that we had clean-up problems further down the line. We have to make sure we clean up properly.

With regard to the storage and energy security study I mentioned, that will be published in the next couple of weeks. It is not the main recommendation. I expect we will be using geological for a variety of complex reasons around the nature of our geological caverns and so on. There are potential sites around the country but they are very limited and I do not believe that is going to be centre stage in the next stage of our development.

What I think will be hugely important is the development of anaerobic digestion. Again, to refer to the sectoral emissions agreement this summer, we have agreed something like 5.8 TWh of energy coming from biomethane and anaerobic digestion, which comes from a mixture of grass, food waste and slurry waste. If I recall correctly, that could involve up to 210 anaerobic digestion sites. That could provide about 15% of our gas needs and would give us some security. Members may correct me if I am wrong about that. Anaerobic digestion is very much part of the security system we need to have in place. It has huge benefit potential for Irish farming because it gives a diverse and separate income and builds on what we are good at, which is growing grass. It also complements animal husbandry and the management of the waste products. I believe anaerobic digestion is a critical and central part of this. As I said, we do not want to waste a crisis and that will be one of the areas we need to roll out at scale and speed to give us a local and indigenous gas supply.