Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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3. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment for an update on energy security; what the Government means when it refers to a "State-led" LNG facility; what "State-led" means in this context; if there will be a commercial element; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17837/25]

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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The question is to ask the Minister what he means when he refers to a "State-led" LNG facility. What exactly does that mean, and will there be a commercial element? The Tánaiste was in the United States recently and is there at the moment. Did the question of buying gas from the United States or from friends of Donald Trump come up at that meeting?

The Minister mentioned legal advice he had obtained in this regard. Will that be published? He mentioned the energy risk report, but there were two further consultations, two other reports, one with GNI and one with CEPA, that have not been published in full. Will he publish those in order that a fully informed decision can be made on this?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for the reply and I am somewhat reassured by the answer, but there is a lot of fear out there at the moment. Some of it comes from the geopolitical situation but some of it has not been helped by a heightening of fear within the Government. With wars, tariffs and the slide into right-wing extremism that is going on, people are apprehensive. The President of the United States, it seems, in the past few days has not had a clue what he is doing. People need reassurance that the Government will protect them and not scare them. It must have the interests of the Irish people at heart. More and more, the Trump Administration has been pushing its chlorinated chicken and hormone-reared beef. There are the digital safety laws, and LNG is clearly part of its strategy as well. I ask for reassurance that we will not open up this facility to any gas which is sold by friends of President Trump to have a commercial entity there. It seems, if you were cynical, that the Government announced this State-backed facility shortly before the trip to the United States. People were maybe putting two and two together and getting five. I am somewhat reassured by the answer the Minister has given to the first question. When exactly will he publish the two reports he mentioned in the previous reply?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for his question because it gives me an opportunity to put on the record of the House that "State-led" means that the strategic gas emergency reserve will be owned and operated by the gas system operator, which is Gas Networks Ireland, and public procurement processes will determine any future partners, that is, whom we will purchase the gas from. I think the Deputy, with his legal background, will understand that to try to put some procurement law around the conditions about which he seems to obsess as to whom he would purchase or not purchase gas from would certainly not stand up to legal challenge, but I understand the point he is making. The timing of this was such that we had to act on this very quickly. It was nothing to do with anything geopolitical. It was really that this risk had been identified very clearly.

The CEPA report will be published in a matter of weeks. I will provide briefings on it to Deputies who are interested in it. It will give them a better understanding as to why we have taken this decision as well.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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We understand that the Government must keep the lights on and that it is important, if it is justifiable in those reports, that the reserve must be in place. The Government, however, also has a responsibility to ensure that costs do not spiral out of control. To take the experience in Germany, when it introduced its strategic LNG reserve it invested heavily in four terminals in 2022, following the outbreak of the Ukraine war. Rather than bringing prices down, however, they have increased by 43%. The reality is that if there is too much of a commercial element, or any commercial element, costs will spiral out of control because the cost of LNG has been rising. As regards the FSRUs in Germany, they have had to double the initial investment and fork out €5 billion in state aid. Ireland will be exposed to this, we will miss our 2030 targets, there will be fines as a result and, in the meantime, if we are dependent on gas reserves, the costs of bills will go up in advance of 2030.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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We will not be dependent on the gas reserve for energy generation at all unless there is a disruption to the gas supply. Between 70% and 80% of our gas supply comes from Britain. Corrib is a diminishing resource, as we know. We are not seeking to access or explore any additional gas fields. The way forward is through renewables. I will give the Deputy one example. Six years ago, about 0.06% of energy was generated by solar. By the end of 2023, which is the last year for which I have the full figures, it was about 3%, and that is growing significantly. Part of our climate action plan and our EU obligations is to ensure we have a secure energy supply, so the decision we took on the FSRU is absolutely consistent with our climate action plan and our European Union obligations.

David Maxwell (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Before we take the next question, I welcome students from St. Oliver Post Primary School, Oldcastle, in Meath, and Deputy Dempsey, Mr. Brady, Ms McKenna and Ms Carpenter. The students are debaters in politics and society. We hope you enjoy your visit to Leinster House.