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

I appreciate that there are concerns with respect to the impact on the environment, in particular on CO₂emissions, but I consider the proposed amendment to be unnecessary and potentially restrictive given its construction. I have provided sufficient latitude in the Bill on the timing of the alternative assessments that will be required, as it is likely, further to the guidance published by the Commission on Article 24 of the directive that the assessments will be carried out in a phased manner. Consequently, it would be preferable not to require specific reports at specific times and to unnecessarily restrict the next steps of the process. There will be environmental assessments and the impacts on air quality and climate will be assessed.

I note, however, that these units will only be used occasionally during times of peak demand coinciding with low wind and interconnector availability. They are not expected to have a significant impact on carbon emissions. In addition, the units are likely to be more efficient and to operate to a higher emissions standard than older fossil fuel generators in the system currently. It is possible, therefore, that they may have a slightly positive benefit on carbon emissions when compared with the status quo, although that is something that must be assessed by the relevant competent authority. While I consider the impact on climate and CO₂emissions to be important considerations in any new development, the overriding interest in this case is served best by providing the greatest flexibility in the type and times of the assessments. For this reason, I will be rejecting this amendment.

It is important to add that a low-carbon trajectory for electricity will require us to back up fossil fuel for the next decade and switch thereafter to hydrogen and zero-carbon gas systems. Any accurate assessment of how we meet our renewables and climate targets shows that we need this sort of back-up power generation. I believe it is fully in compliance with the climate plans and the emissions reductions trajectory on which we are set.

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