Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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91. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the provisions in place for Budget 2023 to include a windfall tax on energy providers profiteering from the cost-of-living crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45750/22]

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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101. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the steps he will take to address the situation where a domestic gas producer is making record profits selling into the Irish market driving up domestic energy costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45724/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 91 and 101 together.

Increased wholesale gas prices, which are mainly caused by Russia reducing supplies to Europe and the war in Ukraine, are leading to unprecedented increases in electricity and gas prices for households and businesses.

They are also leading to windfall gains for some energy companies across Europe, particularly those companies involved in the production of fossil fuels and those who are producing energy at a much lower cost that the cost of gas.

My Department and the Department of Finance have been exploring the potential to collect a portion of these windfall gains with a view to using the proceeds to support energy consumers.

Recently, there have been significant developments at European level in relation to windfall gains. At the Council of Energy Ministers meeting on 9 September, which I attended, the issue of windfall gains was discussed in some detail. Outline proposals were discussed and the Council of Energy Ministers invited the European Commission to make formal proposals.

On 14 September the European Commission published a proposed regulation which includes measures aimed at addressing windfall gains in the electricity sector and in fossil fuel production. These proposals are expected to raise additional revenues which will be used to reduce the cost of energy for households and businesses. It is important that this proposal captures the windfall gains and minimises negative impacts on consumers.

The proposal will be negotiated throughout the remainder of this month with a view to being approved at a meeting of the Council of Energy Ministers on 30 September. I fully support the objectives of this proposal and am working to ensure it fully addresses the issues of windfall gains in Ireland.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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92. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of Ireland’s level of energy security ahead of this winter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45732/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Commission of Regulation of Utilities, which has a statutory responsibility to ensure security of supply, currently has a programme of actions underway to ensure the security of our electricity supply over the coming winters. The Security of Supply Programme of Actions, published in September 2021, contains a number of both demand-side and supply-side mitigation measures to address any potential shortfall. These actions include; procurement of new, enduring capacity through a number of capacity auctions; procuring additional temporary generation; extending the availability of existing generation capacity; additional use of grid-scale batteries; and improved demand side measures.

The Department has been working with both the CRU and EirGrid since the programme of actions was published in September 2021. On 27 June 2022, the CRU published an update on the actions within the programme and this is available on their website.

Margins will remain tight during this coming winter period (2022/2023). The CRU is continuing to work with key stakeholders to implement additional appropriate mitigation measures to further reduce risks during this winter and lower peak demand during this period.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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93. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the expected requirement for gas and oil in the State up to 2050, allowing for the full implementation of our climate targets; the percentage of this that is likely to come from indigenous sources; the efforts that have been made to increase this percentage in order to provide security of supply; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45733/22]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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110. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when the energy security review will be published; the immediate actions that he will take to improve the State’s energy security and independence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45784/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 93 and 110 together.

The 2021 Climate Action Plan sets out clear renewable energy targets to 2030 in the context of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Harnessing Ireland’s renewable energy potential and reducing demand for fossil fuels through improving energy efficiency is the best way to reduce our energy import dependency. Actions to achieve this are set out in Climate Action Plan 2021.

There will be a continued need for fossil fuels and in particular natural gas during the transition, including gas-fired generation to back-up and support the rollout of renewable electricity.  This has been set out in the Climate Action Plan 2021, the National Development Plan and in the policy statement on security of electricity supply which was approved by the Government and published in November 2021.

The Programme for Government contains a commitment to end the issuing of new licences for the exploration and extraction of gas on the same basis as the decision taken in 2019 by the previous Government in relation to oil exploration and extraction. This commitment was made effective immediately upon the current Government taking office, and was placed on a statutory footing on commencement of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021.

Holders of existing authorisations are not affected by these changes, and may apply to progress their authorisations through the licensing stages towards a natural conclusion – which may include expiry, relinquishment or production. This means that a future commercial discovery in an existing authorisation could potentially reach production. Any applications for follow-on authorisations or applications to conduct petroleum activities in the Irish offshore under an authorisation require Ministerial consent, and are required to meet environmental, technical and financial standards as appropriate. If no further gas and oil is discovered in line with the above process, it could be assumed, given the decline of Corrib, that indigenous gas production will be relatively small post 2030.

This week, my Department launched a public consultation on the medium to long-term security of our electricity and gas systems. This review is considering the risks to both natural gas and electricity supplies and is examining a range of measures (including the need for additional capacity to import energy, energy storage, fuel diversification and renewable gases – such as hydrogen). The public consultation will help inform the review and the outcome of the review will be brought to Government for its consideration.