Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

What is energy security? The basic aim of energy security for any country is to reduce the dependency on imported energy sources for economic growth. Can the Minister tell me why this is not happening? Ireland is the most energy import dependent country in Europe. We have no storage capacity for our gas and there are no plans to reopen or upgrade existing facilities such as that in Kinsale. For the past ten years, Foynes in County Limerick has been struggling to get planning for gas storage facilities. Nothing is sanctioned there. We are completely reliant on the UK pipeline for our gas, which, since Brexit, is not as secure as we would like to think. Only recently, the Government failed to apply for the European Commission funding initiative to source temporary floating liquefied natural gas, LNG, terminals. It must be noted that 19 other European countries applied for and took that grant aid but our Government did not. We are a country that is trying to bring down its carbon emissions but we have allowed the cost of importing fuels to surge to €10 billion this year. Yes, that figure is €10 billion. We are currently taking in 130,000 barrels of oil from a place called Qatar and, as yet, we have no storage for gas in Ireland. There are easy wins to be had here, by the Government leading by example and showing us alternatives. This is low-hanging fruit.

Last night, there was a debate in this House on retrofitting and the collapse of the methodology used to roll it out. Many Deputies had the same stories as I have. The Minister talked about it again this morning. The average time to get a house retrofitted in Ireland is 28 months. I am sure he can work out what that is in years. A total of 30 tonnes of bark mulch came in from Australia to Foynes to be burned in peat burners in Ferbane. Coal is being brought from Russia to Moneypoint and turf is being brought from Poland. We are doing things in a way that is creating carbon emissions across the world, under the same sky that the Minister and I are standing under today. Does it not make sense to produce our own natural materials in this country instead of dragging them halfway around the world? The Minister talks about emissions. He was asked last year to look into euro 6 engines for the truck industry. For a couple of million euro, we could have fitted every truck in Ireland with a euro 6 engine. That would have dropped emissions at the turn of a key. It is common sense.

Yesterday, the Taoiseach said to me that the Government is not a business. In fact, the Government is a business and it should be run like a business. It is collecting tax, PRSI and PAYE for the whole country and it makes the decisions for the businesses that are creating employment. The Government has a lack of business ethics and that is why it is destroying businesses in Ireland. The VAT intake alone, even though the rate was reduced to 9%, is up 30% on last year, which has a knock-on effect on the businesses that are giving the Government the tax, PRSI and PAYE. The income tax that comes into the country from every business that is here amounts to 12% of their profits. Yes, the Government is a business but the problem is it does not understand business and that is why it is putting all the pressures on businesses.

Members of the Government spoke yesterday about pensions and said they want people to work until they are 70 but, if not, the young people of today will have to pay for it in extra PRSI contributions. Again, it goes back to the businesses that are paying our salaries in this House and keeping this country running. All the money is being wasted because the Government does not know about business and how it runs. Business supports people, people support the Government and the Government is supposed to support the people but its lack of understanding is evident. I ask the Minister to give me his full attention while I am talking.

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