Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I share the Deputy's concerns. The statistics he highlights show that we need to increase our commercial storage. The Commission for Energy Regulation has responsibility for managing storage licence conditions and it is the commission, in conjunction with the Department, which will look at the various options. The National Oil Reserves Agency has a connection to this. I recently had a meeting with NORA when we examined the potential for increasing storage facilities at our power plants in order to cover the risk the Deputy mentioned, that is, that in the event of a gas shortage the 55% of power generation would not be possible. That fuel back-up can be done in a liquefied distillate rather than gas. The issue does not necessarily have to be one of gas storage. This is a separate issue which largely relates to the salt deposits in Larne, the Kinsale field or some other storage facility. We will have to look at that as part of our security system.

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