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

The key parameter is the strategic outcome and the security. We want to have a vessel that is there and know it is not being used just to sell gas on. It will be there to provide a continuous level of security and will be operated in a way that gives us that.

In terms of ownership, we need to get the lowest price for the Irish consumer. Without being definitive, maybe we could get a very good lease option on a vessel rather than a purchase option. In those circumstances, we would take the lease option because it is lower cost. I do not think we have to be categoric on the exact mechanism of delivery of the particular piece of infrastructure. It is absolutely strategic, first of all, in respect of our climate targets. We are probably quite unique in this country at the moment in that we are one of the few saying that we are not just going to put in new LNG and see a massive expansion in the use of gas, which has happened in a lot of our neighbouring countries. We are saying we do not want to expand the use of gas. We want to reduce the use of gas, but we recognise that there will be interim days and certain periods when the wind is not blowing when we may have a need for gas just for that particular circumstance. It is about having a strategic approach. It is there for those events, unlikely as they are. It is not there as a commercial facility to sell gas.

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