Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Seanad this morning and attending the Commencement debate. I want to raise the lack of regulation of battery energy storage system sites, otherwise known as BESS. In July, the Joint Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy discussed BESS. Much of the discussion related to speeding up the roll-out. There was no meaningful focus on fire safety, environmental risk or proper regulation. That omission is worrying because communities across Ireland will be living beside these facilities with very real hazards and no real regulatory framework to protect people or the environment.

In Cavan, permission has been granted for two major BESS facilities at Shankill Lower and Pottle, despite multiple objections. At Shankill, there is no water access on the site and no decommissioning bond included in the planning permission. That means if something goes wrong or when the facility reaches its 35-year lifespan, it is the local people, farmers and families, and the local authority who will be left with a massive clean-up bill. International experts have repeatedly sounded the alarm. Professor Paul Christensen, who advises the UK's National Fire Chiefs Council, has said planners here simply do not understand the hazards of lithium ion batteries. Fires at BESS sites abroad have taken days to extinguish. It took 24 hours for a fire to be put out in Essex. In Liverpool, it took 59 hours to put out a major fire. Earlier this year in California, 1,500 people had to be evacuated after a major fire. California is now forcing developers to contribute to a fire mitigation fund. That kind of fire mitigation fund only scratches the surface. It does not deal with the risk to people, livestock or the pollution and leakage that can poison soil and water. We need to pause the roll-out of BESS sites until we have a proper evaluation process in place and there is real, statutory regulation of BESS sites. We need mandatory decommissioning bonds, fire safety standards and clear departmental responsibility.

Who is dealing with the oversight of these sites? In Cavan, it seems the site is totally unsuitable and yet it initially got planning permission, although that is now being appealed. The Department of the environment has said it is the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU. When contacted, that office said it is the Office of Emergency Planning. When that office was contacted, it said it is the Health and Safety Authority. When it was contacted, it told us that the local authority is responsible. From experience, I know that the local authority is wholly unaware of any procedures, policies or regulations.