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

I wish to correct what the Deputy said. It is untrue. It will not be used to provide backup when the wind is not blowing. He is right that there is not an example, as Not Here Not Anywhere has said, because all the other energy terminals built in Europe were built to increase supply and that is not the case here. It is exceptional. We are different. We do not offer oil and gas licences. We do not invest in fossil fuel companies. We are part of international alliances recognising the climate is the greatest security risk we face, but we also need to protect our people in the short term. We do that by having a storage facility we can turn to in the event of a disruption.

Yes, there is boil-off and, yes, we keep gas running. Gas Networks Ireland can and will manage that. It will come back with the technical specifications on how to do that. That is the process that is ongoing at the moment. However, there is a fundamental difference between a commercial entity selling gas with more gas being used and a strategic store to respond to international events in Ukraine and elsewhere where there are real-life examples of a risk that our people could be threatened. We will not tolerate that. We need to bring our people through a transition that is just but is also secure. This is only one element - not the key one, but one we cannot ignore - to provide for our security as we transition away from fossil fuel.

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