Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The question of how we got here is a good one to ask. We all recognise this is an emergency. There were 126 votes in favour of the Bill in the Lower House and eight against it. More or less across the board, and certainly in this House, there is support for it. We agreed to waive pre-legislative scrutiny for this and for a previous Bill because of the demands that are now on the system. We have got here because of an increasing demand for electricity generally across the State and because of a failure with regard to the process. In 2019, there was a failure to deliver from an auction and, more recently, we have seen the problems arising from having older infrastructure than we would like to have. In June, the CRU allowed for 450 MW of emergency generation and now it has to be delivered, which is what this Bill is about.

It is important, as the Minister of State said, that even though we require this emergency generation, it is not the case that everything else is standing still. We are among the top four countries in the world for generating energy from renewables. Some days, when it is very windy here, we are the top country. We are driving on. There is a revolution across rooftops, with more and more people putting on solar panels. They all want to be part of the transition. From next year, solar panels will be rolled out across all schools for free. That will allow people to get on board even more with solar energy.

A total of 40% of electricity in Ireland, or the energy to drive it, comes from renewables. We want to double that to 80% by the end of the decade. Even then, however, there will be 20% to be made up, as everybody, I hope, recognises. I would like to see us investing more in hydrogen facilities. There is a pilot programme in Galway and talk of another one at Mount Lucas in the midlands. If we can support and fund these projects, it will demonstrate what can be done with hydrogen. Green hydrogen will not be useful for everything but there is potential in it. On a recent trip to Aberdeen, I saw how it is being used for some services there. We have an opportunity in places like Galway and the midlands to roll it out and see how it would work more generally.

We have already contracted 3 GW of renewable energy. It is a significant amount but everything that needs to be done cannot be done overnight. We need something for next winter. I hope everybody supports the Bill. Like other speakers, I do not like to see the pre-legislative scrutiny process being ridden roughshod over and I agree it is an important part of the process. Today, however, we have to get on with passing this legislation in order that everyone can feel more comfortable in their homes and not have a sense of anxiety hanging over them.