John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. The concept of this Bill is contingency planning for if some sort of unforeseen god-awful thing happens. It is prudent from that perspective. It is prudent from the perspective that over the past year I think all governments, not only in Europe, but the world, are more focused on and concerned about energy security than ever before. This is another prudent measure to add to our arsenal and help us with energy security, should anything unforeseen ever happen when it comes to oil or the restriction of oil coming into this country. From that perspective, it is just a case of the Government being prudent about something that may happen in an emergency or disaster-type situation. To be clear, something hugely substantial would have to happen that would be affecting governments across the European Continent for this legislation to be put into use by the Minister. All being said, I think it is prudent legislation. It is important that we have the Minister able to react on a statutory footing to what could be a very fast-paced situation at some point in the future. From that prospect, the legislation is good. It is prudent.

The Bill leads into a wider discussion as well about two things. First, energy security and showing us the need to speed up our transition to renewable energy by the end of the decade. There are two things about that. What I have always said when we have talked about the cost-of-living crisis and the energy crisis over the past couple of months is though we, as a Government, try, we were never going to be able to insulate people fully from the effects of this energy crisis. However, as a Government, we have tried to insulate people as best as possible. I think we have done a good job at insulating people from that, whether it is through the electricity credits or the fuel allowance that Senator O’Reilly talked about, which is substantial funding going back into people’s pockets. We have been able to do that because of the prudent economic management of this country over the past six, seven, eight, nine and ten years.

When we come to speeding up our move to renewable energy, that highlights why we have to get to our targets by 2030 and further on even quicker than ever before. The sooner we move our energy economy and energy systems over to where the vast majority of this country is powered through renewable energy, then we will not need to be hugely concerned about what is happening in Europe and what is happening with gas and oil. That has to be the end goal. When one thinks about it, it is exciting that that is where we will get to. We will be so energy independent, for want of a better term, that the energy we produce in this country will not only be able to fuel and drive our country, but we will be able to be a net exporter as well, for example, exporting wind energy to other countries. It takes us away from an interdependency on gas and oil.

We are approaching the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine. If one was to talk about war on the European Continent only 12 to 18 months ago, nobody would have seen it coming. We do not know what could come along in the future either. The sooner we escalate our transition over to renewable energy, the greater energy security that we, as a country, will have overall.

The final concept of this Bill is contingency planning. It is putting something in the back drawer should an unforeseen circumstance ever happen when it comes to oil. From that prospect, it is prudent. I would be keen to hear the Minister of State’s views on that.