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

-----which can provide the backup power we will need. I mention that historic announcement by ESB, equivalent in my mind to the announcement on the building of Ardnacrusha, to convert Moneypoint to be a collection point for that offshore wind and to be a transition point where we convert that comparative advantage we have in offshore wind into hydrogen power. We could use that power in Ardnacrusha, Irish Cement or the Moneypoint power stations. That gives us the stability, better economy and security for our future. ESB says we can do that by 2028. That is a real challenge but ESB and Equinor, a Norwegian company, are probably world leading in their ability to deliver it and we can deliver it if we get our political, regulatory and planning systems right and that is what this Bill does.

Anyone who talks about this energy revolution recognises that even if we have abundant supplies of offshore wind in our system, which we do, it is a matter of efficiency first. If one is filling a bath one puts the plug in before one does anything else. I am confident we can do this because it is agreed by all the parties that took part, not just in this recent Joint Committee on Climate Action hearings on the Bill but in the previous Oireachtas, the Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and the Environment that did a huge amount of good work to look at what we should plan. All of us collectively said that we should aim to do 500,000 houses per year. Deputy Fitzmaurice is right about those two families in Roscommon. I can understand how that is crushing for them when they want to improve their houses and they get letters telling them it is not possible.

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