Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment, Darragh O'Brien. I am delighted to see this issue being raised in the Seanad because I see it as a key way for agriculture in particular to play its part in renewable energy provision. I always point to the example of the Timoleague anaerobic digester in my neck of the woods. It almost acts as a co-operative, where the local piggery brings manure as an input into the anaerobic digester, the local distillery supplies waste grain as an input and other waste products also go in as inputs, and gas is produced to provide energy for homes. Digestate, which is a valid form of agricultural fertiliser, is produced as well. It is the perfect example of the circular economy and something I would love to see rolled out, so I accept the urgency of this.

The Government has committed to delivering up to 5.7 TWh of indigenously produced biomethane by 2030. Delivery of this target and the use of biomethane within our energy system will have multiple cross-sectoral benefits for Ireland’s economy, energy security and emissions profile. A first step to realising this ambition was the publication of the national biomethane strategy. In partnership with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the strategy was published in May 2024. The strategy sets out a pathway to achieving Ireland’s biomethane production target, addresses the challenges that need to be overcome and outlines the necessary supports and policy enablers needed to drive growth across the sector.

Implementation of the national biomethane strategy is an ongoing process of collaboration across key Departments and agencies and the biomethane implementation group has been established to oversee implementation of the strategy and delivery of the 25 key strategic actions to ensure the necessary infrastructure and supports are in place to support development of an indigenous biomethane industry of scale. Chaired by the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, with close support from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the group reports directly to the heat and built environment task force on ongoing progress. The group continues to engage with action owners and key stakeholders to monitor implementation and finalisation of a full progress report, which will provide an update on key deliverables, including publication of the biomethane charter. The development of the biomethane information hub and communications strategy is under way. It is expected that this progress report will be published on gov.ie shortly.

The Government has also agreed to the introduction of a renewable heat obligation, RHO, to ensure the increased use of renewable fuel types across the full heating sector, with the primary aim of supporting the achievement of Ireland's heating and cooling targets at EU level. The development of the RHO is a key priority for the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment and the necessary analysis and impact assessment that has informed the design of the RHO and the RHO high-level scheme has now been finalised. The Department is drafting the RHO heads of Bill for submission to the Government shortly and, once approved by the Government, will begin drafting of the RHO primary legislation to underpin the introduction.

The Senator is right that the RHO legislation is needed and needs to be progressed quickly. It would be a shame if we missed that opportunity in terms of the December deadline for anaerobic digesters to avail of EU funding. The direction of travel is going in the right direction, though. There was no biomethane or anaerobic digestion strategy 12 or 18 months ago but there is now. I agree with the Senator that it is a key way of driving economies in rural areas, reducing emissions and making digesters sustainable.