Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

To go back to Moneypoint and to give an example of how things are changing, five years ago Moneypoint accounted for about 16% of our electricity generation; it is probably down to 2% or so in the past year or two. It will continue to decrease because if one considers the price of carbon on the emissions trading system markets, which is about €40 per tonne at the moment, at that price it is very hard for coal to come into the merit order among Irish power plants. However, what Moneypoint has is incredible sea jetty access and a very large platform where one could assemble, store or manage the deployment of offshore wind. Moneypoint also has that incredible grid connection. The ESB may look at it as a potential plant that would be used only as backup in an emergency. There is a whole variety of options. I very much trust the ESB and its expertise in this area as to what the best outcome will be not just for the workers and the future of Moneypoint but for this whole new energy system. It is absolutely committed to this new decarbonising system because it recognises that it is the way the world is going and that it is a better system. We will make sure in this transition that there is a just transition for the people of Clare, Kerry and Limerick who border the Shannon Estuary.

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