Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Senator is right to be excited, interested and encouraged by what is being done in Galway. It is really positive.

As he rightly noted, sustainability and the need to decarbonise lie at the heart of transport policy, as set out in commitments under the programme for Government, the national development plan, NDP, the whole-of-government climate action plan and key strategies such as the national sustainable mobility policy. Against the backdrop of a shift away from fossil fuels and towards clean and green energy sources and fuels, renewable hydrogen has rightly been identified as one of several technologies with the potential to decarbonise hard-to-abate transport sectors. Those include the long-haul road transport and the maritime and aviation sectors. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, who apologises that he cannot be here, has a strong understanding of this potential role for renewable hydrogen as part of a wider energy sector transition.

The Minister has also a keen awareness of the need to identify the best investment and policy landscapes within which renewable hydrogen might be deployed to support transport decarbonisation objectives. This requirement, supported by strong evidence and data and industry insights, is particularly important, because while the Government's political commitment is clear, the policy framework to implement and support the delivery of green hydrogen in Ireland is in its early stages of development.

In that context a hydrogen strategy is being developed as a key priority within the national energy security framework by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. The strategy will outline the pathways towards the production of green hydrogen and its use in Ireland's energy mix. The consultation for the strategy is under way and it will be considered on a cross-governmental basis before being finalised this year.

Pending the publication of the planned national hydrogen strategy, the Department of Transport has put in place a range of initiatives and measures to support potential early movers in hydrogen mobility. These include grant support for the purchase of heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, some of which we have seen in action already; an accelerated capital allowance tax incentive for purchasers of hydrogen vehicles and associated refuelling equipment; hydrogen bus technology trials on suburban public service obligation routes in Dublin and Cork, including in my constituency; and a proposal that, from 2023, green hydrogen should receive quadruple credits or certificates that could be offset against the national obligation on supply of renewable fuels for transport with the potential to create a market value of benefit to suppliers of green hydrogen for use in transport.

Building on these initiatives, the Department engages with many industry stakeholders in an advisory capacity concerning policy on the development of green hydrogen as a future renewable energy for the transport sector. The GH2 consortium the Senator mentioned is among those groups, and the Department has engaged with the consortium since 2021.Policy advice recently provided by the Department has included a statement of the current policy context for renewable hydrogen in transport to inform the consortium's proposed hydrogen valley project.

In line with the commitment in the programme for Government to ensure Ireland is at the cutting edge of scientific and technological innovation, the Minister for Transport has also identified renewable hydrogen for transport as a key element of his Department's climate research programme. To that end, working with counterparts in the Northern Ireland Executive and as part of the Government's shared island initiative, the Department has commissioned research on the potential for cross-Border co-operation to inform the approach to implementing hydrogen refuelling infrastructure across the island.

The first phase of this research is underway and is assessing the options concerning safety regulations for possible future hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, including best practice and guidance on interoperability and delivery. A second phase of research, which is expected to be commenced next year, will involve a feasibility study concerning the delivery of transport refuelling on a cross-Border basis on the island of Ireland, including examining the criteria for optimising location and use. Within the overarching framework of the Government's forthcoming hydrogen strategy, these research projects will support and inform the next steps in the consideration of hydrogen development for transport and the possible future procurement of the delivery of public hydrogen refuelling infrastructure.