Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To be clear about that, as far as I am concerned, we should use as few carbon fuels as we can. I recognise that we will be using gas in particular for quite some time as a transition fuel until we can replace gas with biogas, until we can develop a hydrogen economy and until we can generate sufficient electricity from renewable sources, predominantly wind but also solar, and maybe other technologies in the future. We need to move away from the use of fossil fuels. I also think that some fossil fuels will be part of our energy mix for some time because of energy security concerns. Many people, including me, would like to have moved away from coal earlier at Moneypoint but the energy security reality has not allowed us to do that. We have moved away from peat, which has been a difficult transition for many people who were employed in that sector. We will move away from coal and, ultimately, we will move away from gas, but we have to do it in a way that maintains our economic resilience and energy security. We have to be realistic about the pace of that change. My job is to accelerate it as fast as we can but I think it is self-evident that Ireland will be importing gas for some years to come.