Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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85. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will work to ensure that EU plans for decoupling gas from setting the overall price of electricity will not be replaced by a situation where nuclear and coal set the prices for cheaper to produce renewable energy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45723/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I recently attended an extraordinary meeting of the European Energy Council, where Ministers emphasised the need for coordinated European action, both in terms of short-term exceptional emergency measures, and medium/longer-term improvements to the market framework. Ministers agreed that immediate action must be taken to ensure the EU's security of supply and alleviate pressure on customers, while maintaining consistency with the current efforts to reduce gas demand and the objectives of the European Green Deal and REPowerEU.The Commission has proposed a number of short-term exceptional emergency measures in recent days which includes  capping the revenues of inframarginal electricity producers with low costs of production and introducing a solidarity contribution from fossil fuel companies to be used to mitigate the impact of high energy prices on customers. The cap proposed in the Commissions Regulation is based on a fixed figure of 180€ /MWh, rather than inframarginal rent being capped based on the price of coal or nuclear. The Commission’s proposed legislation is already under urgent negotiation by Member States with the aim to have agreement by the end of the month.