Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will not comment on the last speaker other than to say that the issue is not vaccinators but the supply of vaccines, which is a problem we have no control over.

I raise an important issue which featured in one of the lead stories by Lorcan Allen in yesterday's Business Post. Part of the article stated:

An expert has warned that Ireland's power system is at risk, amid concerns that national infrastructure is buckling under pressure of growing demand. System alerts typically occur during the winter months when electricity demand is highest...there have been two already this spring. The number of system alerts warning of potential electricity shortages on the national grid has risen dramatically in the last 12 months, leading one expert to warn that Ireland is showing the early signs of a power system at risk of blackouts. In the last year the Single Electricity Market...has issued six system alerts to warn of capacity shortages on the electricity grid, compared with just 11 alerts over the previous ten years.

I can identify with that as in my part of the country, over a period of time, there has certainly been a major increase in the number of power cuts. I have been asked time and time again by business and ordinary householders why it is happening. I was given various excuses. I ask the Deputy Leader to ask the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to come to the House to reassure us that we are not facing this debacle.

I am somewhat concerned because we closed down two peat-burning stations in Lanesborough and Shannonbridge. While we all accept the peat-burning era is coming to an end, the eight-year closedown and just transition virtually became a one-year closedown. Have we put the cart before the horse to some degree? This is something we cannot allow to happen. We must get it right. I ask the Deputy Leader to ask the Minister to come to the House to reassure us we are not heading down this road.