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

The Government committed in 2019 to raising the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources from 30% to 70% by 2030. We all know that wind and solar generation are the best way to reduce emissions with conventional fossil fuel plant playing an important role for many years to come by providing back-up and spare capacity as we move from fossil fuels to a cleaner future. I support calls from the Cork Chamber of Commerce on Monday last for Cork Harbour to be identified as the gateway to transformative changes in Europe's transition to renewable energy. The chamber has called for urgent Government policy to unleash floating offshore wind potential.

In January of this year, EirGrid declared an amber alert for Ireland as the electrical supply system came under sustained pressure to meet high demand and record levels of consumption that placed our national grid under threat.

EirGrid stated that the record for peak demand was broken twice in January alone. This is the first time this has happened. Technical failures at Moneypoint, issues at Whitegate and Tarbert power stations, plus a drop in wind generation meant that for a time we came close to the lights going out in this country. The Government started yet another Government review of energy security in December, a process which is costing the Irish taxpayer €250,000. The Government says the report will not be ready for an entire year - how much information does the Government need when its own agency charged with managing supply is issuing amber alerts to the public? When the Government came to power it stopped the granting of new licences for gas, which I have serious concerns with. We are simply committing to importing all our energy instead of producing any of it ourselves. Every single Government agency - Gas Networks Ireland, GNI, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI and EirGrid - is saying our demand for gas will continue for many years. When will we have renewable energy? The Tánaiste knows it will take a minimum of ten years to produce any wind farms at the scale we need to replace the Corrib or Kinsale fields. What is the Government doing to ensure Ireland has security of energy supply for our homes, hospitals, schools and businesses? What if there had been a blackout on even one of those two days in January when we had amber alerts for Ireland? Will the Tánaiste confirm that the ban in the programme for Government does not affect the existing licences issued by the State, that they will be honoured and exploration allowed to proceed? It is important that Ireland be allowed continue the past successes we have seen at the Kinsale area gas fields which ceased production after 44 years and at Corrib, now the only producing offshore gas field in Ireland.

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