Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

They were closed on foot of a court decision. We are going to use the infrastructure there for battery storage, which will be helpful for dealing with our energy needs and energy security.

The reasons the demand for electricity has increased so much in Ireland are simple: our population is growing rapidly, our economy is growing fast and we are moving away from fossil fuels to electric vehicles, heat pumps and so on. The solution is more supply. We need more generating capacity and it is coming on stream. It is going to be gas and renewables, and we have a plan to catch up on this backlog and give us headroom to expand further.

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