Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

50. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to include Moneypoint power station in the just transition fund in the event the plant may be scaled back in the coming years; and if he will engage effectively with the ESB to ensure that Moneypoint will be kept as a key player in the grid. [16391/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The progressive reduction in the use of fossil fuels for power generation will be essential component to meeting the Programme for Government commitment to an average 7% per annum reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions from 2021 to 2030. The 2019 Climate Action Plan has already committed to ending the burning of coal at Moneypoint by 2025 at the latest and to the replacement of coal-fired generation with low-carbon and renewable technologies. In addition, as stated in the Programme for Government, the government will support a just transition for the workers and regions impacted as peat and coal-fired power generation is phased out.

As part of the EU Green Deal package, the European Commission published a proposal for an EU Just Transition Fund, funded under the EU Multiannual Financing Framework (MFF), in January 2020. The Fund is intended to provide support to the economies, people and the environment of territories facing serious socio-economic challenges deriving from the transition process towards the EU’s 2030 climate targets and a climate-neutral economy by 2050.

Under the European Commission’s Next Generation EU package, it is proposed that the budget for the EU Just Transition Fund would increase from €7.5 billion to €40 billion over the period 2021 to 2027. The proposed allocations to all Member States would increase as a result, with that for Ireland increasing from €29.9 million to €176 million, subject to the outcome of negotiations on the MFF. Investments in Member States under the EU Just Transition Fund must be underpinned by a Territorial Just Transition Plan, covering the period 2021 to 2027, which must be approved by the European Commission and implemented within the framework of the EU’s cohesion policy programmes. Work on this plan has commenced in my Department, and this work will also be supported by technical assistance under the European Commission’s Structural Reform Support Programme.