Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have listened intently to what the Deputy has been saying. I would like to explain what we have to do right now in terms of our supply. We have to transition to cleaner sources of fuels. In the meantime, we need to have a transitionary period. We cannot say we are not doing this or that. The Shannon project is a private enterprise that is governed by EU regulations. This means it can be done. There is a need for secure supply right now. In 20 years' time, we will have transitioned away from this type of fuel but we cannot do it overnight. I mentioned earlier that Bord na Móna is moving from peat to other sources of energy. This transition will take time. We are working on that. At the same time, we need to have security of supply. We cannot rely on one source alone.

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