Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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We are really in much deeper trouble than we thought we were. The International Energy Agency acknowledged that for the Paris Agreement we might have to consume 500 plus gigatons, and on known existing reserves there were 3,000 gigatons of fossil fuels accessible to us. In countries such as Venezuela, Canada and the US we know shale gas is extractable at $40 a barrel. The Professor is now saying that the north Atlantic has massive new potential. It must be more expensive to exploit that resource than the 3,000 gigatons we already know about and which has already been discovered. Where does this stop? When do we stop exploring for oil and gas? Are we just going to cook the planet?