Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also wish everybody a safe and healthy Christmas. I echo Senator Boyhan's calls about coming back at the same time as the Dáil and committees. This House needs to be putting its shoulder to the wheel and doing as much work as the other institutions in the Houses. I echo the calls that we should be back early. I would happily use that time to progress two Bills that I have on Committee Stage. One would reduce the cost for animal welfare shelters. The Government had promised to have my dog welfare Bill before Christmas. That criticism is not targeted at the Deputy Leader. We could do that in January and save those shelters a fortune in having to house dogs that are being held as evidence in private kennels.I would particularly like to raise the issue of yesterday's SEAI report on energy in Ireland, which made the headlines and showed that emissions from energy had decreased. Many were on the airwaves celebrating the decrease in the amount of coal and oil we burn to generate electricity. On the surface, this is commendable. It is the direction we all want to go. However, when you read the SEAI report, you will see that the devil is in the detail. Oil and coal-generated electricity has not been replaced with renewable energy. Rather, it has been replaced with electricity from Britain, where it is generated from fossil fuels. There has therefore been no overall reduction in Ireland's emissions. This is due to the very disconcerting trend of substantial increases in our reliance on imported electricity. The percentage soared from 1.2% in the first nine months of 2020 to a staggering 9.1% in the same period in 2023. As I have said, all we are doing is engaging in clever accounting. We are literally offshoring our emissions, outsourcing them to Britain and not counting them here. We need tangible climate action, which is about reducing overall electricity demand. That means dealing with the data centres, producing renewable energy within our own borders, steering away from accounting tricks and avoiding sleight of hand.