Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his closing remarks. One of the advantages of being in the EU is that we get to benchmark ourselves against the other countries on the Continent. Sometimes we are ahead, sometimes we are behind. One glaring anomaly that stands out is that this country of all the 27 has no strategic gas reserve storage facility and no strategic gas reserve. It is a major red flag and we should have alarm bells ringing in all our ears. A second advantage of being in the EU is that from time to time we get good Directives that make a lot of sense. They are binding. We got a good Directive about 25 years ago when Ireland like all the member states was told to set up a National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, and keep a minimum of 90 days' oil reserves in the country for a crisis. It was set up 25 years ago and we now have hundreds of millions of euro worth of oil in reserve. The moral of the story for me is that if we are compelled and obliged to do something, we will. That is what happened from an oil perspective. However, if we are not obliged, as we are not in respect of gas, we do not do it. That is a major concern.

I know the Minister is Minister for Transport, officially. He is also Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. I do not envy his portfolio. I think it is too large and too broad. Correct me if I am wrong but I do not think we have a dedicated Minister for energy. There is no Cabinet Minister or junior Minister with energy in his or her title. We have no Department of energy, for instance. It is no wonder we are in this blind spot. It is no wonder we are now reaping a bitter harvest. The motion is not about complaining or being negative, it is actually quite the opposite. We are trying to encourage the country to be ambitious, bold and daring.

Deputy McNamara quite rightly pointed out Ardnacrusha. I know we have had the conversation before that this country needs a second Ardnacrusha moment. However, we do not even need to go back to 1928. We can go as far as 1940, when our grandparents, in my own constituency, built Pollaphuca. They evacuated, rehoused and compensated an entire village. They flooded 5,500 acres of land. They built a brand new artificial lake and a mighty hydroelectric dam in Pollaphuca that is still giving off renewable energy. I am not for a minute suggesting that we should repeat and do exactly what our grandparents did. However, I am suggesting and, indeed, we are all recommending, that we match the scale of their ambition, because that is what is required.

I will focus on three specific recommendations. First, we need a gas reserve facility. I spent many days and nights on the Kinsale Head gas field when there were gas platforms over the alpha and bravo caverns. The caverns work. Up to 2017, they were buying gas in the summer when it was cheap, pumping it into the caverns and extracting it and selling it on the market in winter when the gas was expensive. The concept is sound and makes sense.

Second, I refer to liquified natural gas, LNG. I appreciate the Minister and his party have concerns about LNG but I think those concerns are surmountable. We can put in check and quality control mechanisms to ensure that it is not shale or fracked gas. I do not care, and I do not think any of my colleagues care, whether the gas comes in by ship or by pipeline. It is still gas. It is about the quality of the gas; not how it arrives on the shore.

Third, our big concern is related to offshore wind. I was fortunate to get a ferry across the Irish Sea this summer and I saw with my own eyes that we only have seven offshore wind turbines, and they were built 20 years ago. When they were built, it was ambitious. It was one of the biggest wind farms offshore in the world. However, Ireland has not added a single offshore wind turbine in the past 20 years. That reflects very poorly on successive Governments.

In summary, we are calling for Ireland to be ambitious. We rightly admire our grandparents, who built Pollaphuca, and our great-grandparents, who built Ardnacrusha. We believe that the best way to honour their memory is to seek to emulate them. We think it is possible and we should do it. We should match their scale and ambition. I am glad that the Government is accepting this motion. However, we certainly insist, recommend and focus on the fact that we need immediate and urgent implementation. A very good statement of intent would be to dedicate an energy minister at Cabinet. It has to be done immediately – as soon as possible – but certainly before 15 December when the reshuffle takes place.

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