Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Indeed, with three other colleagues - Deputies Michael Healy-Rae, Danny Healy-Rae and Richard O'Donoghue. I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, the very best in his new role.

NORA exists in its present form to ensure that Ireland maintains its minimum stockholding requirements for oil and petroleum products. With regard to the proposed amendment of the principal Act, the Minister wishes to increase levies on oil and petroleum products to establish the climate action fund. These amendments will increase costs for consumers in Ireland at a very difficult time. While the ambitions of the fund are admirable, the fund amounts to a blank cheque for the Minister to hit each and every consumer directly in the pocket, and especially in rural areas, in a major area of cost to consumers, namely transportation and heating.

While we all have aspirations to have a world-class public transport system in Ireland, the main mode of transport for most people today is the car. This will increase costs for people at a particularly challenging time. Would it not be better to introduce an income tax increase to show citizens what the Government's climate action fund will cost instead of a sneaky levy? For example, under the proposed amendment to section 8 of the principal Act, the Minister proposes to pay the proceeds of a levy collected and recovered into the fund. Can the Minister of State confirm that this levy will be capped, and at what amount? Can he confirm that the levy will not remove or reduce funding for other critical parts of our economy?

Under the proposed amendments of section 37 to the principal Act, the Minister proposes to have dedicated expenses for the set-up of the fund. Can the Minister of State explain how much is budgeted for the management of the fund and whether there will be a cap on expenses for his Department in respect of the running of the fund?

I will also raise the critical issue of our security of supply for natural gas, which is dire. The Minister of State wishes to increase energy efficiency through his proposed amendment to the operation of the climate action fund but I believe we need to get our house in order first. While Ireland has an agency to safeguard a minimum volume of oil reserves, it has become increasingly clear that it is severely exposed to security of supply issues with regard to natural gas. As the Minister of State may have seen in the news, the Kinsale gas platform, one of our only indigenous sources of natural gas, was recently turned off. This will result in a loss of jobs in Cork but also means that we are now in an extremely vulnerable position with regard to our national security of supply for gas.

Ireland currently produces more than 50% of its electricity from gas. We import gas via interconnectors with the UK. We have no existing gas storage on the island of Ireland. The Corrib gas field will be exhausted within ten years. We will then be fully reliant on the UK for the importation of gas. The UK is also reliant on gas imports and has experienced its own decline in gas production in the North Sea. The UK is also exiting the EU, leading to new risks to our economy. While the UK and Ireland are now good friends, the same cannot be said of the UK and the EU, which are going through a messy divorce. If trade talks between the EU and the UK were to take a turn, there is not much preventing the operators of the British national grid from increasing tariffs on the interconnectors between the EU and the UK, which would directly hurt the Irish economy.

I strongly ask the Minister of State to improve the security of supply of natural gas and propose that he considers a floating liquefied natural gas, LNG, import terminal, which would guarantee our security of supply, while we develop offshore wind power and renewables. While we will make that move towards renewables in the coming years, it is clear that it will take time and we must be realistic. Gas can, and will, play a key role as a transition fuel and in the balanced power production from renewables in Ireland. Once offshore wind power production and other renewables are in a position to replace fossil fuels, we can either use a floating LNG terminal as purely a security of supply option or disconnect it entirely if that is desirable for our country. A floating terminal allows for this and we will not be left in the lurch while we make our move towards renewables.

I am aware of proposals from a company owned and located in Ireland, which is ready to put world-class LNG infrastructure in place and which will commit to importing conventional LNG as opposed to fracked gas. This will help to put Ireland's energy transition and economic competitiveness first rather than outsourcing our energy needs to the UK and other countries.

As the Minister of State will be aware, we are in very challenging times. Higher energy costs will hurt our economy. I, therefore, ask that he seriously considers a floating LNG terminal as a viable option to support our economy with competitive energy and to diversify and ensure our security of supply of gas to ensure practical implementation of the energy transition.

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