Seanad debates

Tuesday, 5 July 2022

EirGrid, Electricity and Turf (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage

 

12:00 pm

Photo of Eugene MurphyEugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. He could nearly take up full-time residence in the House. This is the third or fourth time I have met him in the House today. Fianna Fáil welcomes this legislation, which will help protect the security of Ireland's electricity supply. As the Minister of State outlined, the purpose of the Bill is to provide for emergency measures to ensure and protect the security of the supply of electricity, and for the giving of financial support by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to EirGrid to enable it to take certain measures. The Minister of State may have outlined some of those. They include acquiring electricity generation plant, to provide for EirGrid entering into agreements with electricity generators regarding electricity generation plant, and to increase the amount of money EirGrid and Bord na Móna may borrow, which, as the Minister of State mentioned, is €3 billion and €650 million, respectively. That is very important.

We have had the closure of Shannonbridge and Lanesborough power stations in my part of the country. We have accepted the change and know it has to happen. We want the pace of that change to increase in our area. I do not know what the intention is with regard to those power stations but I believe they will be dismantled. We need to put some other structure in place there. It might not provide as much employment. We are going from a brown to green economy there. That is acceptable. Whatever structure is put in place, it must take account of the needs of the local communities.

This legislation provides for payments to customers of certain benefits relating to the public service obligation levy and other related matters, including a requirement that EirGrid shall provide a report to the CRU every quarter, or more frequently as the CRU may require. The measures in the Bill were announced in mid-June as part of a wider package of measures to help mitigate rising household electricity bills.

It is appropriate we are discussing this Bill at this time. In recent years the public and industry have been looking over their shoulders in terms of having enough electricity supply to bring us over the winter period. That concern still exists although, in fairness to the Government and the Minister, that has calmed down a bit. It is a concern for people in that, unless we rectify the position and get the situation under control, we could be in trouble. Nobody wants to see lights or power having to be switched off. We must avoid that at all costs.

There is great opportunity for wind and solar energy development if we handle this properly. I meet farmers every week at my constituency clinic and they all want to get involved in solar panel development. They are willing to do that. That is good for climate change. It is one sector where farmers will play their part. Farmers are becoming involved in it. In some cases there might be more controversy about wind turbines. When they were first put up in my part of the country, there was all hell to pay, but that seems to have calmed down because of the community involvement, which involved Coillte at the time. It is now Bord na Móna and the ESB, and that system is working out well. There are many farmers in rural areas who would like to get involved in solar panel development and that has to be good.

Section 3 provides that EirGrid shall take urgent measures, as required, under direction from the CRU, to ensure security of electricity supply, including acquiring electricity generation plants, selling and transferring such plants to an electricity generator, and entering into an agreement with an electricity generator to operate the electricity generator plant. It provides for the operation of the generation plant in line with CRU direction and for operation to cease upon the fulfilment of the direction or 31 March 2027, whichever is the earlier.Section 4 prevents EirGrid from operating generation plants acquired by it pursuant to a direction from the CRU, and provides for it to enter into an agreement with an electricity generator to sell the emergency generation plant and undertake its operation.

Fianna Fáil welcomes this legislation. We will support it. What we do with decommissioned power stations, from an economic perspective, has been a major issue in my part of the country. We all know we have to change, however. Security of supply will be the issue we need to sort out. Rather than have people worry about whether they will have electricity supply in the months ahead, the Government, which is in control, must ensure this is properly done.

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