Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The previous Oireachtas committee on climate decided, by majority vote if I am correct, that we would ban oil and gas exploration. Why? Because we wanted to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. Why? Because we wanted to deal with the issue of climate change, because climate change is existential and we have to start. The danger was that if we kept on doing oil and gas exploration, we would reduce any incentives to move towards renewables. That has been the challenge. No one saw the war in Ukraine coming and the degree to which Europe would have to reduce, very rapidly, its dependence on Russian gas and oil, with countries scrambling all over looking for LNG across the board.

We import the majority of our gas from the UK, which also take supplies from Norway. Some 75% of our gas from the UK and 25% comes from Corrib. We have developed well in terms of onshore wind. We are now on the cusp of a significant development in the context of offshore wind. Consents have been activated in respect of the east coast. Auctions will take place, and we will see the first phase of a significant offshore wind energy project getting under way. That has been assisted by the fact that the legislation around maritime permits and so on was brought through the House last year. The Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, has been legislated for, and advertisements for positions in MARA are now under way. It is envisaged that MARA will be established early next year. There is a genuine desire, which the Deputy articulated, to move faster in respect of this. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is off that view also. The EU is of the view that we need to fast-track the permit system. It is introducing a regulation that will provide for an overwhelming public interest clause. The latter will override other objections to offshore wind in the interest of the public good in order to get as much offshore wind energy in place so as to permanently reduce and eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels. All of that is accelerating across Europe because of the war in Ukraine. People want to reduce, very quickly, their dependence on Russian gas and oil.

Recent developments have been extraordinary. Russian gas accounts for something close to 10% of requirements compared with what the position was at the beginning of the year. It has been an extraordinary achievement by the EU. Gas storage is at 80% or 90% across Europe. This just shows what can be done out of necessity. That is the agenda ahead of us in terms of our security of supply.

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