Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)

I stand by my remarks. Actions speak louder than words. For all the Taoiseach's protestations, we are not seeing actions from this Government that indicate a seriousness about tackling climate change. This is not just a matter of presentation. The Taoiseach said it is irresponsible to oppose LNG. He again raised the issue of energy security but a commercial LNG plant is not about guaranteeing energy security. What would be ways of guaranteeing energy security would be investing in renewables, ensuring that we have decent infrastructure and using State investment in battery storage infrastructure. We are seeing reports from Gas Networks Ireland and EirGrid stating that the existing infrastructure is already capable of meeting future demand, even in the event of extreme supply disruption. Why do we need this commercial facility? Locking us into new fossil fuel infrastructure when our emissions are still so high will have a further effect. It will see Ireland further overshoot its climate targets so that families and households will foot the bill for the eye-watering fines associated with missing targets. That will be an issue for households in a cost-of-living crisis and there is no guarantee of energy security.

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