Dáil debates

Thursday, 2 June 2022

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions

Energy Policy

11:30 am

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

In the provision of energy, we must get three things right. We must get the price right because we have to protect our householders. We must get the environment right and stop the planet from burning due to the local pollution that comes with a lot of fossil fuel use. We also must secure energy supply. I believe the development of hydrogen back-up power, storage and usage in power generation and in industries makes energy sense on all three criteria. To answer Deputy Stanton, our circumstances are different to other countries. We are not at risk, in the same way other countries are, because of the switching off of Russian gas. We are at risk of the higher prices because it is a fungible market. However, the real security risk for us is our reliance on fossil fuels, as was mentioned earlier. Those LNG ships, which people have said give security, have shown in the past year that they do not provide security. There is no guarantee. When the UK gas regulator found itself in the middle of the high-price crisis, it inquired if it could get ships. No, it could not because they were going to Asia. They turned around in the Atlantic and moved the other way. There is no real security in that route, whereas with the hydrogen alternative, we know wind can be converted into hydrogen and stored locally. We are not dependent on anyone else. Everyone is now looking at that as the major investment development.

We are developing a hydrogen strategy that will be developed at the same time as the energy security review and the Shannon strategy. I believe all three will come up with a sound, basic, commonsense energy analysis. In the context of five to ten years from now, that is the investment we should make.

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