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

The Deputy is reading something into the planning amendment that is not the case. There is no intention in it to open the door to changing the position with regard to either fracked gas or the development of commercial LNG facilities in this country. It was purely made for technical reasons, namely to ensure the legislation would be in line with other legislation so there would not be legal uncertainty regarding any development here. It gave no preferential benefit or signal in that regard.

We do have to tackle the climate change crisis, which is all the clearer every day, and that requires us to switch to the electrification of everything in our country and stop the use of all gas. I believe that, with the building of interconnectors, battery storage and solar and wind power facilities, we are starting to see a significant reduction in our own emissions, but a significant reduction in the use of gas is now also possible. That will be the way we provide greater security.

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