Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Tá fíorfháilte roimh Uachtarán an Choimisiúin Eorpaigh go dtí Teach Laighean inniu.

I thank the President of the Commission, Dr. von der Leyen, most sincerely for addressing the Oireachtas today marking our 50th year as a member of the European Union. Over those years, Ireland has developed both socially and economically with the assistance of the European Union.

As a people, we are proud members of the European family, a relationship that many of us had taken for granted until Brexit challenged it. We must all now redouble our efforts to do what is right for the people on our island and for the citizens of the European Union in finding a practical solution to the current impasse. Since the vote on 23 June 2016, the Commission has stood side by side with Ireland, both in terms of negotiating an agreement with the UK neighbours and in building greater linkages with our continental neighbours.

One of those linkages is the Celtic electricity interconnector, which finally came to fruition last Friday with the Taoiseach leading a delegation to Paris for the signing of the legal agreement for the 700 MW interconnector with France. As the then Minister who engaged with the Commission and the French authorities on this project on behalf of the Irish Government, I formally acknowledge that this vital project would never have happened without the EU Commission's support and that is not only in terms of finance.

President von der Leyen, with the dramatic disruption to energy supplies across Europe as a result of the war in Ukraine, we can all now see the need for a far greater level of ambition for electricity interconnection right across Europe if we are to achieve our climate goals and our energy independence. Last December, Dáil Éireann unanimously passed a motion that, among other things, called on the Government to design a strategy in conjunction with the European Commission to construct an Atlantic electricity interconnector that would bring renewable electricity generated off the coast of Ireland to the mainland European grid. We have a 90 million ha maritime resource off our coast - nearly three times the landmass of Germany - providing us with the potential to develop 70 GW of offshore renewable electricity. That is enough capacity, not only to meet our own long-term needs here in Ireland but also to meet the long-term needs of France and Austria. The Atlantic interconnector must only be the first step. We need a pan-European approach to transmission planning facilitating investment in new transmission technologies and constructing electricity superhighways right across the EU, both west to east and south to north. However, the current EU regulation on cross-border transmission planning must be reformed to meet the energy security challenges of the future. I ask the President of the Commission, the Commission and her colleague, the Commissioner, Ms McGuinness, here, to amend our approach to gird development and to create a much larger cross-border pan-European meshed electricity superhighway that will bring solar energy from the south and wind and wave energy from the west right into the heart of Europe providing the EU with reliable clean green European energy.