Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail)

An tAire is very welcome to the Seanad. It is great to have him back. I thank him for his ongoing engagement with Senators, and not just through his frequent presence in the Seanad Chamber. I know from stories from other Senators how hands-on and supportive he is on constituency matters, in particular roads projects that are very dear to us. Go raibh maith ag an Aire for his cross-party support on those projects.

I thank the Minister for his time and bringing forward this important Bill, which I strongly support. This Bill empowers the ESB to invest at the scale required for Ireland's clean energy transformation. It is legislation that matters for everyone, including families, businesses and communities. It will support key priorities in infrastructure, housing, competitiveness, investment, growth and climate action. We have a particular interest in and affinity with the ESB in Limerick and the mid-west. We are the home to the State's first pioneering renewable energy project at Ardnacrusha. We have strong ambitions and a keen focus on the development of the next phase and chapter in Ireland's renewable energy production, and that is the opportunity for floating offshore wind off the Shannon Estuary and the west coast.The programme for Government commits to delivering 9 GW of onshore wind, 8 GW of solar and at least 5 GW of offshore wind by 2030. Since 2020, we have made real progress on those ambitions. Our renewable share of electricity has risen from 40% to over 50%. I heard the Minister on the radio this morning making the point that in the last year or so, for the first time in decades - since the development of Ardnacrusha - the State has generated more electricity from renewable energy sources than from oil or coal. That is a significant national achievement and we must recognise the efforts that have been made to get us this far. Our ambitions for 2030 go further, though, with a target of 80% renewable energy with at least 5 GW from offshore wind in operation. To meet those targets, we must scale up faster than ever before. This capital investment, along with the ability for the ESB to draw down finance, means that the ESB has the public mandate and the financial means to build the infrastructure that private enterprise alone cannot deliver.

I have to talk about the Shannon Estuary. As the Minister is aware, we have the natural resources of our deep waters in the estuary and the strong winds on our Atlantic seaboard. We have the ambition to use that energy to meet our renewable energy targets in this country and to drive economic regeneration right up and down the west coast. It is a project I believe strongly in. I know the Minister does too, and I look forward to working with him in accelerating our progress toward that over the course of this Government. Without major reinforcement of the arteries of our energy system in the national grid, the renewable energy of the Shannon Estuary will never reach our homes, our industries or our neighbours. This Bill gives the ESB the ability to make that happen.

I must sound a note of caution. We must remember that this is not the first time that we have placed our faith in the Shannon and the west coast. I refer to the important power generation project the State took on at Ardnacrusha, using Lough Derg and the River Shannon to generate electricity. I have to bring to the Minister's attention, as he is no doubt aware, the concerns that have been raised about another project he is responsible for, the Shannon to Dublin water pipeline, and the proposed abstraction of water from Lough Derg. Critics warn that during periods of drought or low flow, this abstraction could reduce the water levels available to the Shannon system, with knock-on effects for the Ardnacrusha hydroplants, navigation, ecology and the river system. As legislators we have to ensure that energy generation, environmental stewardship and water management are treated as interdependent parts of one national system because they are. I look forward to discussing this with the Aire again.