Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 8 March 2022

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Estimates for Public Services 2022
Vote 29 - Environment, Climate and Communications (Supplementary)

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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We have all sorts of plans to deal with a supply shortage at which point various different plans kick in, but we are nowhere near that and I do not expect to be. We will look at further measures but it cannot be a cure-all because the price rise is so large. I will also be looking at a range of efficiency measures in the coming weeks to help people reduce their usage. That will be the key one.

I should have mentioned that I was at a meeting of the International Energy Agency last week. There was a call there for countries to contribute towards a release of emergency reserves. We were happy to sign up to that as part of a solidarity response to what is happening in Ukraine. I believe we will be releasing approximately 227,000 barrels of our strategic reserves as part of that united International Energy Agency effort.

We will need to continue to review and monitor this. We will not be able to protect against all the impacts, but we will do everything we can to try to minimise then. Government is reviewing this. There is a meeting of Secretaries General every week. Cabinet has a separate line item on the monitoring and managing of the crisis. This is unprecedented and we will need to be flexible and keep an eye on every aspect of it.