Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister for Finance alluded to the fact that things are changing and have been changing in terms of the world economy and the geopolitical landscape. In the last number of days, we have seen huge and concerning changes. Every time we turned on the news this morning there was a new update on what is happening between Israel and Iran. Some of the reporting relating to Iran is that it might close the Strait of Hormuz in response to the bombing by Israel and the US. About 20% of the world's oil and gas demand flowed through that strait in 2024. European countries that shifted their supply from Russia to the Middle East could be hit quite badly by this. What projections or analysis is being done by the Department of Finance, or, indeed, is it is being done at a European level on the impact that is going to have on our gas, our oil and perhaps our electricity costs?