Nessa Cosgrove (Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State mentioned a temporary gas reserve, energy security and an emergency reserve. In the area I represent in Leitrim, people have been campaigning for this for years. I believe the evidence is very strong. Will the Minister of State ask the Minister what does he mean by "temporary"? How long will it take to build the terminal? It took five years to build a terminal in Poland. If we are actually supposed to reduce our emissions by 2050 how does it make sense? Do we really want to invest this money? We want to move away from fossil fuels but it will take five years to build it.

The Minister of State also talked about energy security, a term that is floated all the time. If we are under threat, I suppose from the Russians targeting our existing pipelines, then surely a floating LNG terminal would be the first thing someone would target. Would it not be better to use these resources to access, store and distribute the limitless and free natural resources we have in wind, solar and wave technology and to invest in the proper and smart electrification of these resources?

The Minister of State spoke about an energy reserve. This is where the research is coming in very clearly. It is not a matter of filling the terminal once. LNG needs to be fresh to maintain this. To maintain a seven-day strategic reserve requires six replenishments of the gas per year. I again call on the Minister of State to please try to push this back. This is such a concern. Is the Government totally reversing its policy, which was previously stated, to not choose fracked gas? Is that now null and void? Is this the way the condition is now?