Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I have sympathy for anyone affected by rising costs. However, if we are to protect the public interest, we must divert from using oil products. We consume 165,000 barrels of oil every day; on average, ten pints of oil for every man, woman and child. In the long term if we are to protect our people from a peak in global oil production and a reduction in the availability of oil supplies, there is an urgent requirement to reduce our oil dependence across many sectors, such as heating, power generation and transport.

We are responding to this in proper policy terms. I have appointed a firm of leading international oil experts, Purvin & Gertz Inc., to undertake a detailed review of security, supply and access to commercial oil supplies, including examining all internal markets and how oil is delivered. That is the proper policy approach to learn what appropriate interventions and measures need to be taken, be it in storage, supply chain, and so on.

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