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

Senator Higgins asked a second question about Beyond Oil and Gas.

At the UN General Assembly in New York this year, I was asked to chair the latest meeting of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance. There is no diminution whatsoever in our status in that regard because that misinformed view that there is some promotion of commercial LNG facilities is totally untrue and not the case. There was useful discussion in the Oireachtas during parliamentary questions last week which cleared up that we are not going to go in that direction. As a country, we have proud position on this issue, because we are not allowing fracked gas in Ireland, we are not exploring for oil and gas, and we are shutting down the use of coal in power generation. We will not develop a commercial LNG facility. There is widespread political agreement on that. I have asked my Department to conduct further analysis of whether we might need something as a strategic security reserve to see if the possibility of further interconnection, storage and other mechanisms could let us avoid that need. We were able to speak not just as members but recently chairing the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance.

Lastly, with regard to the issue of de-risking or deregulating, I agree that part of what we need is strong regulations around the tracking, tracing, reporting and financial flows, but I keep coming back to the point that if the Senator thinks we should be limited to that, she is disadvantaging some of the poorest countries in the world in my experience. I was in Nairobi last year at the climate summit in Africa, considering how we would bring climate and development together. I was in a room with eight energy ministers and their key issue was how they de-risk so they get the development that they see happening in the developed countries but that is not happening in Africa. That injustice cannot be ignored and cannot be delivered unless we de-risk and deliver what Mia Mottley said, which is to bring those interest rates down and bring justice to the world. Walking away from that responsibility would be a terrible mistake and outcome.