Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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76. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he is aware that the emissions impact of imported liquefied natural gas, LNG, is worse than that of coal; and if he envisages the building of either a State-led or commercial LNG terminal in that context. [7030/25]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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Is the Minister aware that the emissions impact of imported LNG is worse than even coal? It is the dirtiest fossil fuel. Despite that, the Taoiseach has said that we will "have to have an LNG facility of some kind." Will the Minister be going along with the Taoiseach? Will that be a so-called State-led project, as the previous Government was in favour of, or a commercial LNG? Can the Minister update us on the progress of the memo his Department is meant to be bringing forward?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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As outlined in the programme for Government, the Government is committed to taking decisive action to radically reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and achieve a 51% reduction in emissions from 2018 to 2030, and to achieving net-zero emissions no later than 2050. In the programme for Government, we also set out commitments to achieving 80% of Ireland’s electricity generation from renewable sources by 2030 and to take all necessary action to ensure and protect Ireland’s energy security. It is through delivering on this commitment that we will deliver a secure and sustainable energy future. The commitment to a secure an energy future builds upon the Energy Security in Ireland to 2030 report that was approved by the previous Government and published in November 2023. Specifically with regard to natural gas, this report concluded that Ireland does not have adequate resilience in case of a major disruption to our subsea gas imports pipelines and does not currently meet minimum EU standards in this area. I agree with its analysis on that. We are in quite a precarious situation in that regard.

It is in this context only that a State-led strategic gas emergency reserve in the form of a floating storage and regasification unit was recommended in the report in the context of ensuring energy stability and security. A State-led strategic gas emergency reserve, operating on a non-commercial basis for use only in the event of an emergency, would provide resilience to the gas system and mitigate the major consequences for our society and our economy that would arise from significant gas disruption in Ireland. In parallel my Department is developing the appropriate policy and legislative measures to ensure that a strategic reserve provides the resilience to our system that we need.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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I note the Minister simply ignored the actual question. That is obviously a prepared answer; he has a prepared question. I could go again. Is the Minister aware that the emissions impact of imported LNG is worse than that of coal? This is research from last October by an environmental scientist called Robert Howarth. I will give the Minister some of the lowlights. The paper states that "LNG is 33% worse in terms of planet-heating emissions over a 20-year period compared with coal." It goes on to state that "Drilling, moving, cooling and shipping gas from one country to another uses so much energy that the actual final burning of gas in people’s homes and businesses only accounts for about a third of the total emissions from this process." The large resulting emissions mean there is "no need for LNG as an interim energy source". The paper adds that “ending the use of LNG should be a global priority” and yet the Government is going in the opposite direction. The Government is paying lip service to targets that the previous Government was not going to meet, and that this Government is going to miss by an even greater margin, unfortunately, than it was on track to miss them by. It seems that this is driven by the Healy-Raes on one hand and Donald Trump on the other.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Right, I do not know where to start with that. There is a reality. The Deputy has dismissed the report that was done and the research that was carried out with regard to energy security full stop. What would this country do if there was an unforeseen event that disrupted our gas supplies while we are transitioning away from fossil fuels? We have done that very successfully. I commend the previous Minister on the work he did in that area. I know the Deputy was consistently critical of the work he and his Department carried out. However, the reality is that if there is a disruption to our gas supply, Ireland does not have a strategic reserve. What would that mean for society? What would that mean for our hospitals, businesses and homes? It is in that instance, looking at the risks that are there, that we absolutely unquestionably need to move towards a strategic gas reserve.

With regard specifically to the Deputy's contention that emissions of imported LNG are worse relative to that of coal, that depends on a number of factors, such as the timeframe in question, the supply chains associated with both coal and LNG and the methods of transporting both fossil fuels.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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It is not my contention, Minister.

I do not claim to be a climate scientist. It is the contention of those who have researched the matter. Perhaps the Minister is going to ignore the science on it. The answer in terms of energy security and resilience is, first, to stop expanding data centres. They are putting our energy usage on an accelerating upward track - they are going to be at 30% by 2030 - and the Minister is basically telling them to "burn, baby, burn", let it rip and go up even higher. First, we need to reduce energy usage where necessary rather than expanding it. Second are batteries and third is interconnection.

I will ask the question explicitly. Was there a secret deal with the Healy-Raes to give a wink and a nod to the Fortress Energy commercial LNG terminal in Tarbert, County Kerry? That is what the Business Post is reporting, saying that the line the Minister cited in the programme for Government was included, in reality, to get Healy-Rae support. Is it about appeasing Donald Trump? The Taoiseach said that Europe will have to buy more liquified natural gas from the US to appease tariff threats from Trump. Those are his words, not mine. Are we going to trade away our climate, our children's future and our energy prices to placate Trump's bully-boy tactics in order that the US fossil fuel giants can drill, baby, drill?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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There is no secret deal done at all. I have mentioned and the Deputy has ignored completely the issue of what Ireland would do right now, next week, the week after or next year if there was a disruption to our gas supply. Gas is in our system right now and we are reducing our reliance on it. What would we do? Would we just have no strategic reserve of gas? Would we not run our hospitals for a period of time?

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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Hospitals, Minister?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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It is a very serious proposition. If we have no energy and a major disruption to our gas supply, we need to have a reserve in place. This did not come about by any kind of deal that the Deputy suggests. It is about ensuring we have the adequate supports in place should there be a disruption to our gas supply while we are expanding renewables and increasing our interconnection, as the Deputy knows we are doing also. It is about the security and stability of our energy system for our people - nothing more, nothing less.