Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. First, I want to associate myself with the remarks made by other members in regard to the sad death of Rory Mason.

I will be covering some ground that has already been touched upon. I want to ask three questions of the Minister. First, there has been a lot of focus and debate on QMV. I would be interested in coming at it from a different angle by asking the Minister of State, from his own experience in Council, whether an issue ever arose where something that was really desirable was not attainable because of a veto. The way we work in Ireland, with multi-party Governments being the norm nowadays, is that technically there is a vote at Cabinet but, in my experience, there is never a vote at Cabinet because, by necessity, you have to bring everybody with you. I think that is the way the European Council works as well. I would be interested to hear the Minister of State's take on that because the one thing we do not want is, by some majoritarianism, to leave somebody feeling wounded or excluded. For that reason, I would be supportive of the status quo.

My second question is in regard to the positive actions that the European Union takes. The Minister of State is right that there is often a focus on the things that are not being done, and the very positive things that are being done are not always focused upon. For example, the acquisition of vaccines during the Covid crisis was a successful undertaking, as well as the support by means of the provision of PPE and other equipment. In the energy crisis we are facing, there are two elements for Ireland. One is obviously the cost element to be borne by our citizens and by industry, and the Government has done a good lot to address that insofar as it can. I would be interested in the other side of it, from a European perspective, and that is Ireland's sustainability in acquiring energy. As I indicated, I understand that the Commission, certainly the Commission President, is anxious for a common purchasing arrangement so there is not the perverse and disruptive bidding between member states for energy, particularly after the winter, given that storage for this winter is reasonably adequate. What happens next year to ensure we do not have individual member states bidding up the price and literally freezing other member states out of energy? Where are we in terms of that common approach?

From an Irish perspective, the Minister of State rightly said that we are on the periphery. We have about a quarter of our gas from the Corrib field and three quarters comes through Britain. Ofgem said yesterday that there may be a critical balance this winter in gas supplies in Britain. How does that impact on us since they supply us? Have we had reassurances in regard to our supply if their own supply becomes critical? It has been very clearly indicated by EirGrid and others that our energy supply this winter is on a knife edge.

My related question concerns the push to renewables. The Minister of State referenced the notion that we need to be a net exporter of energy. Obviously, the big investment and the enormous focus in the immediate horizon, that is, in the next 15 to 20 years, will be on offshore wind, but there really is very slow progress in Ireland in regard to getting that off the ground, if the Minister of State will pardon the phrase. We have not designated a port to service it yet and the maritime area regulatory authority, MARA, will not be taking applications until at least March of next year. There just does not seem to be the urgency about it that would be in sync with the Minister of State's determination that we will be energy self-sufficient within a reasonable horizon.

My last question is about the coverage of Europe and European affairs. We complain in this House that there is diminution of the coverage of the business of this House. Certainly the detailed work of committees of the House is not covered very much. There is talk of a second Chamber, which would dissipate coverage even more. There is a perversity. The more product, productivity and effort, the less coverage of it that is communicated. I know from talking to Irish colleagues in the European Parliament that there is significant concern that there is virtually no coverage of the activities of the European Parliament, although it may generate 70% of what ultimately is Irish law. A big part of advancing the principles of democracy and so on is to ensure they are communicated effectively because, quite frankly, they are not at the moment.