Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to start or continue a debate on where we are in respect of the issue of fuel and our fuel security. I note the UK energy regulator came out with a warning in recent days about energy supplies in the UK where natural gas will be affected. It is a grim warning and has highly significant knock-on implications for Ireland. If we have a situation where there is rationing of natural gas in the UK, the knock-on implications are direct for this country. We are dependent on the UK for 70% of the natural gas coming to this country. How we manage it in the next weeks, months, and years will be a huge issue for our society and economy. We need to talk about a realistic approach of what we need between now and 2030 and 2050. Hydrogen is part of the solution. It will be looked at in the future but it will not deliver what we need in the coming weeks and months. That must be said. We need to look at our own resources, such as those off Corrib and off Barryroe, Cork, which have the potential to fill the gap and make sure that the transition fuel, which is natural gas, can be cultivated in our own shores. If we do not do that, we are depending on an outside entity which is outside the European Union to actually supply natural gas for us. That will be a major issue for our society in the next few years. We need to have a real debate about where these licences are, what we are going to do and whether we are going to have a realistic approach or an ideological one around making sure that we can keep the lights on in our country.