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

I do not think I mentioned untruth. I am not sure what the Senator is referring to. To be clear, the wording of that technical amendment was to ensure that there were not inconsistencies across other laws and so on. It in no way implies that the State will seek, approve or support the development of a commercial gas facility. We need to reduce our gas across so many different areas. We can do that. We are starting to see it in one area where it is most important, which is power generation. The latest figures were out today. I cannot remember the exact figure. Is it 19% or 16%? It was a high double figure reduction in emissions from power generation in the past year. The first quarter of this year was similar to what happened last year. We need to rapidly and radically reduce our demand of gas. There is no case for the expansion of gas use in our State on a commercial basis. We need to go in the exact opposite direction. This Government is absolutely focused on that.

I do not think depicting that in another way is an accurate reflection of where we are as a State.