Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The legal advice I referred to is the legal advice my predecessor received, going back to 2020, which I was not aware of at the time either. I had to act on it.

To answer the Deputy's question about "State-led" directly, that means State-led, State-owned, State-operated. I want to be very clear on that. This is not a commercial entity. It will be used in the event of a disruption to our gas supply. We have a floating gas reserve. We have been very clear in the programme for Government that we are absolutely committed to our climate targets and to the acceleration of renewables. That is why we brought forward in the previous Dáil the planning Act, which was opposed by many parties opposite, in order that planning would be streamlined. That is why I am working now on the transposition of the energy directives RED II and RED III, which will really help.

To answer the Deputy's question about the CEPA report - and Deputy Whitmore has a question tabled about that and I will go through it in more detail - yes, we will publish it very shortly. Deputy Whitmore has asked that previously. That may help people to get a greater understanding. I am conscious that these questions are being asked in the absence of Members seeing the CEPA report. The report will back up what we have done, but the Deputies will be the judge of that when it is published. I am happy to offer Deputies any briefing in that regard from officials. All of us want to ensure not only that we accelerate the transition to green energy but also that we secure our energy supply now. That is what we must do.

The floating storage and regasification unit will store liquefied natural gas in a reserve for use in the event of a disruption to gas supply. That is what it will be there for. The State already secures oil, as I mentioned to my colleague earlier, in a similar way with the NORA oil reserve. This facility will replicate the security-of-supply measure for gas. The strategic gas emergency reserve is not intended and will not be used for commercial use.

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