Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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54. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will outline the process and timeline for ratifying the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty. [46913/22]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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On 24 June 2022, the Energy Charter Conference confirmed Agreement in Principle on the modernised Energy Charter Treaty. The next steps for the EU, including Ireland, are legal review and the consultation period (3 months).

A headline provision of the Agreement in Principle removes protection for all new fossil fuel investments and that protections for existing fossil fuel investments will be phased-out after a transition period of 10 years. This is one of the most important policy objectives of the EU and other countries, which is to phase out fossil fuels in favour of renewables. It will help pave the way for the much-needed transition to renewable sources of energy, which is vital, not only in the long-term climate sense, but also the nearer term policy objective on Europe no longer being reliant on Russian gas.

Ireland's position remains to support the Energy Charter Treaty and the benefits to international energy security that it provides, particularly at a time when energy security has been threatened, while also supporting the Agreement in Principle on the modernisation process to align the Treaty with the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the environmental concerns integral to it.

Ireland therefore awaits the outcome of the final stages of the modernisation process towards adoption at the Energy Charter Conference in November, while reserving the option to support a co-ordinated withdrawal from the ECT should this effort fail and if considered appropriate by Government to achieve our national renewable energy and climate ambitions.