Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I dtosach báire, gabhaim buíochas as ucht na fáilte croíúla atá faighte againn anseo ó mhuintir Árainn Mhór. Gabhaim buíochas leis an bhfoireann uilig freisin. Tá an-chuid oibre teicniúla déanta ag an bhfoireann chun gur féidir linn a bheith anseo inniu. Is lá stairiúil é. Táimid go léir mar ionadaithe ar ár bpobail ach inniu tá an tOireachtas ag teacht chuig an bpobal agus ag tarlú i lár an phobail. Is lá iontach stairiúil é dá bharr sin. It is brilliant to be here. It really is the Oireachtas coming out and taking place within the community. It has always been our job to take the concerns of our communities and bring them to Dublin but it is nice that Dublin is coming down to the community as well.

I compliment Ms Ní Shearcaigh on the incredible work happening on the Aran Islands. We certainly have an opportunity to make them lighthouse communities, which is her goal. It makes for a perfect testing bed, particularly for things relating to sustainable transport. She identified that 60% of the emissions come from transport. One can see how EVs, electric bikes and shared mobility are all particularly applicable to island situations.

There is an abundance of renewables. The islands have made incredible progress on PV. One thing our offshore islands certainly do not lack is a wind resource, but there is the issue of intermittency. There are times when, as is often rehearsed, the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing, although that might be rare enough on the islands. In the context of the issue of intermittency and if the islands really want to move to a point where they are fully energy self-sufficient, what steps are they trying to take in terms of storage or interconnection? Does there need to be an upgrade in the quality of interconnection between the island grids and the grid on the mainland to allow them to move to fully decarbonised energy systems?