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

It will be difficult for me to address all of the questions.

We went to public consultation last September in respect of a process to issue regulations this autumn. The regulations will not affect the householder. They do not consider producers or someone who might be cutting a bog and so on. They focus on the retail side. They relate to smoky coal, wet wood and turf at the retail and sales levels. That was agreed in the consultation last September.

It is true that the world has changed since last September as a result of the war. It is true that the price of coal has increased because much of the coal on the market was Russian coal and the supply chain has been affected in that regard. Oil and gas have also been significantly affected. The key answer in this insecure time, for Europe and Ireland, is the European Green Deal. This was set out by the Commission in advance of the war, but it all the more urgent and requires to be committed to now. Europe imports so much of its energy, food and feedstock for its animal production system that it makes for an insecure world for us. We must start to become much more efficient and much more reliant on our own resources. We must create wealth out of the alternative renewable efficient economy, which is growing. That is where the jobs are and where the investment will be. That is where our country has a real advantage. Our population is relatively small for the size of the island. Our wind resources are beyond compare. Everyone can see this coming but we can now convert that wind to hydrogen gas, which provides real security. Rather than going out into the Atlantic Ocean at €100 million a pop and trying to drill on a 50/1 outsider bet, which is our record when we have gone out to explore in an attempt to find sources of fuel, we have the odds-on knowledge that the offshore wind is there. We can tap into that and convert it.

The green transition is central to the European strategy and the Government's strategy. It belongs to all three parties. It is smart, clever and obvious to use our natural resources in this difficult time. That is the best way to protect our people. I do not always agree with the finer details of what the European institutions decide. I did not agree with the Parliament's vote on taxonomy yesterday because I disagree with describing gas or nuclear energy as green in any way. However, that is not going to distract us from what we need to do, which is to tap into the resources we have in abundance and to use them with real skill, which we have in respect of balancing variable renewable supply and demand management to heat our homes, move our transport system and power our industry. That is the way forward and we have everything to gain from it.

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