Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

One of these days, Deputy Colreavy must tell me where he stands on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. If we are to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and if we are to move towards decarbonisation of the electricity system, we must then reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and must use more renewable sources. I repeat for the tenth time this morning, that the improvement to the grid has nothing to do with whether there is an export project to Britain because, as I indicated in the last exchange with Deputy Moynihan, it is a separate technology underground to plug into the British grid and so on. The reason the grid is being strengthened in Ireland, on the advice of the expert State agency with responsibility for the delivery of an infrastructure fit for purpose, is to maintain economic progress in Ireland, to disperse employment to the regions and to ensure we have a system that is capable of doing precisely what I stated at the outset, that is, to reduce Ireland's dependence on fossil fuels, which cost us €6 billion per annum to import, as we are net importers. It also is to ensure that Ireland had a transmission system that is capable of exploiting a highly valuable renewable indigenous resource we happen to have in plenty here and this is what the Government is seeking to do in this regard.

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