Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Stanley for raising this important issue. As the Deputy has outlined, there has been great co-operation between Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK in the energy market. It is certainly our desire that this will continue.

On the issue of the security of the supply of gas, Ireland has two main sources. One is from the Corrib facility, which is a very important supplier, as Deputy Stanley has indicated. The Corrib field delivers nearly half of our gas needs. The balance of our supply comes from two wholly Irish-owned interconnector pipelines between Ireland and Scotland. These pipelines are governed by intergovernmental agreements with the UK from 1993 and 2004. Gas Networks Ireland, GNI, and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, have indicated that gas trade across the two interconnectors will not fundamentally change in the short to medium term as a result of a no-deal Brexit. Gas trading contingencies are being further examined as part of ongoing engagement with the Directorate General for Energy and the European Commission, as similar issues arise for member states such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark. They are secure but an interruption to gas supply from an unpredictable event is always possible. Brexit, however, of itself does not make that more likely. Ireland has a considerable advantage in having the Corrib provision.

The practicalities of gas trading on the interconnectors are governed by a series of mutually reinforcing agreements, contracts and trading rules, variously between the Irish and UK Governments and between the transmission system operators in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain, with the latter overseen by their respective regulators. With regard to the World Trade Organization, WTO, I have been informed by the Department that electricity would continue to trade and a tariff would not apply. There may be a very small tariff on gas in the order of 1%. Even in a WTO context the impact on this sector would be relatively small.

The position on oil products, is that Ireland is dependent on imports that are predominantly supplied by UK refineries. There are no indications, however, that we should be concerned about the continued availability of these products, post UK withdrawal. In the event of any unexpected supply disruption occurring in the UK, the industry has indicated that alternative supplies can be sourced elsewhere, such as Rotterdam in the Netherlands. On the issue of emergency oil reserves, Ireland is required under EU legislation and International Energy Agency, lEA, rules to hold oil stocks equivalent to 90 days of net imports for use in an emergency. Currently 57% are held in Ireland, 22% within the other EU member states - all of which are readily accessible - and 21% of our emergency stocks are held in the UK, including Northern Ireland. Post UK withdrawal, these stocks will still be accessible.

I will get information for Deputy Stanley on the works that have been done but I know that NORA has stepped up its own capacity and has been onshoring the reserves that are being held. That has made-----

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