Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Let me get to the fundamental point. Rather than betting on the Irish stock market and offshore gas exploration, in respect of which there is no certainty and a chance of success of up to 40:1, should we not invest the same amount of money in wind energy generation off the west coast and in the Irish Sea and further interconnections?

Instead of doing that, should we not invest the same amount of money in offshore wind off the west coast and in the Irish Sea and further interconnection? We know the resource is there, the technology is sound and the price is decreasing. What are we doing betting on offshore gas exploration instead of investing in resources on the Stock Exchange? Good Irish companies are involved in this area. What is the economic rationale for going with risky, dangerous, polluting and uncertain bets versus known technologies, known prices and meeting our carbon targets? How come we are not thinking about using the grid connection to feed 5 GW generated off the west coast of Shannon into Moneypoint and doing the same on the east coast?