Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

European leaders will this week discuss energy prices and resilience across the European Union. One of the ways in which they can improve resilience throughout the Union is to improve digitisation of the EU economy. To do so, they need to change what meets the definition of "high-speed broadband" at European Commission level. Today the threshold that has to be reached for high-speed broadband under EU state aid rules is just 13 Mbps. This will leave thousands of homes throughout this country with copper-wire broadband connections. Most rural homes, just like their city cousins, will have direct fibre connections, but people in hundreds of villages across the country who live within 1 km of the green Eir cabinet and who have just 30 Mbps will be left with a copper-wire connection, even though they do not have one but two fibre cables running outside their doors. To address this, the EU needs to change its definition of "high-speed broadband" under EU state aid rules. The EU digital agenda set an ambition in respect of broadband of universal speeds of 30 Mbps, but today, under the EU digital compass, the ambition is to have universal access to gigabit broadband by 2030. Ireland is well positioned to be the leading member state in this regard and to have gigabit connectivity available universally across this country by the second half of this decade. However, people will be left behind by this outdated definition, and it is imperative that the Taoiseach uses his influence with the Commission to ensure that this outdated definition does not leave behind people in this country and elsewhere around Europe.

The second issue I wish to focus on is energy. I ask the Government to do something radical, that is, to think long term in Ireland. It is in our interests and in the EU's interest, particularly when it comes to energy security, to do so. Colleagues have raised the situation on the Ukrainian border. Russian troops are massing at the Ukrainian border, yet the Russians are turning down the tap on gas coming into the EU. Over the medium term, Ireland will generate 60,000 MW of renewable electricity off the west coast that will be surplus to its requirements. We need to start planning now for a new Atlantic electricity interconnector running from the west coast directly into the European electricity grid.

Last week, Dáil Éireann passed unanimously a motion that, among other things, called on the Government to design immediately a strategy in conjunction with the European Commission to fund and construct an Atlantic electricity interconnector that would connect west-coast and south-west-coast renewable electricity directly into the mainland European electricity grid. This could provide huge quantities of clean electricity to the Union, create tens of thousands of jobs right along the western seaboard, bringing about balanced regional development, and significantly reduce the cost of electricity to Irish homes, making it the cheapest electricity in Europe. To do that, however, an offshore renewable development authority needs to be established to would drive the type of change and the strategic thinking needed in this country. In tandem with that, the Government needs to engage directly at EU Council level pushing for the need for the Commission to spearhead the development of an Atlantic coast electricity interconnector, bringing that clean, green, Irish-generated electricity right into the heart of Europe. It is imperative that we lead from the front on this objective. I ask the Taoiseach to put it to Olaf Scholz, the new German Chancellor, when he meets with him later this week, that Ireland can help Germany to meet its long-term sustainable energy objectives. Germany has a significant challenge to meet its renewable energy objectives up to 2040.

It is hoping to take all coal-fired electricity generation out of its system by 2040. To do that, it will require importing a substantial volume of green energy. Ireland can help provide that by having that interconnection from its west coast directly into the European electricity grid. It is not just to meet the renewable energy targets that are set throughout Europe, but it is to deal with those geopolitical challenges that we are now seeing amassing on the Ukrainian border. As we know, the Russian-owned Gazprom, the world's largest producer of gas, typically supplies one third of the needs of gas to countries in the EU. However, this November, the flow dwindled to a six-year low. It is all right for the EU to talk tough, but it is very difficult to talk tough when the Russians are turning down the gas tap. Not only do we need to focus on electricity being transported into the European grid, but we also need to look at hydrogen from the west coast of Ireland being manufactured there and transported to many other member states. To do that, Ireland, which is one of the very few EU countries without a green hydrogen strategy, needs to expedite that immediately.

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