Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is no guarantee that any power imported will be any greener than the power generated at Moneypoint. To be clear, I agree with the necessity to reduce carbon emissions. It is the political imperative of our time. I will draw the analogy, however, about the current situation. It is like if my grandfather in the 1920s, having read somewhere that tractors were soon going to be in Ireland, sold his horses and then had nothing to plough with the following spring because he had not yet acquired a tractor. We must do this. I look forward to the day when Moneypoint is an innovative and green hub of energy production and hydrogen fuel manufacture and we are harnessing the power of the Atlantic Ocean. In the meantime, though, we need to power the State. We must reduce our consumption of energy, but we must also meet that energy need. We cannot end up in a situation where we have blackouts and we also cannot end up staving off that possibility with imported energy that is no cleaner than the energy we generate ourselves.

Deputy Bruton talked about Botswana. What is good for Botswana is good for Ireland. Dr. Michelle Cain is a noted climate scientist. She has talked about global warming potential, GWP, masking the true effect of short-lived climate gases and the specific impact of methane. She compared a herd to a closed power station. If a power station belches out carbon dioxide and then closes, it is no longer taxed. A herd of cattle, however, once it does not increase in number, maintains the same level of emissions in the atmosphere throughout. Our national herd has not increased since the 1970s. There are issues with nitrates that must be addressed. We must equally look at forestry - not instead, but equally - in respect of what is causing a deterioration in the quality of our water. Regarding our national herd, there used to be huge cattle pens on the North Circular Road in Dublin. It was the same in Bristol. For decades, Ireland has fed the needs of cattle right across Europe. If we stop that production, are we going to just transfer that production to places in South America, where such feedstuffs will be produced with even greater carbon emissions?

See this speech in context