Energy Security: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-29 ============================================================ Nessa Cosgrove (LAB), Labour Panel Labhróidh mise ar dtús. Tá trí nóiméad agam. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. It is no exaggeration to say that the global economy we have built around extractor consumerism is totally dependent on the availability of cheap and reliable fossil fuels, and that the reliance on oil and gas has led the world into countless conflicts in modern times. We do not need to tell anyone that. It is not called black gold for nothing. Control of their own fossil fuel resources has genuinely brought independence and sovereignty to many nations, including Arab nations. It has brought levels of prosperity and progress but has also brought misery, pollution and death. What it has not brought is security. Even nations that control their own fossil fuel resources have neither energy security nor physical security. During our discussions on the national development plan and since, we have heard a lot of talk from Government about the need to invest in a floating storage and regasification unit, FSRU. This will be the first time substantial amounts of liquefied natural gas will be introduced into the Irish energy mix. It beggars belief that at exactly the time we are supposed to be transitioning from fossil fuels to sustainable energy, this Government has made a deliberate decision to jettison its climate commitments and encourage the importation of huge amounts of this damaging, dirty, filthy, methane-rich gas into our energy mix. Methane is 80 times more warming than CO2. An FSRU will not be an emergency reserve. In order to remain safe, the gas needs to be vented, emptied and refilled at least six times every year. I completely dispute any argument that LNG is a necessary step towards energy security. Even Paul Griffiths, the CEO of Predator Oil & Gas, has agreed that he would not live beside an LNG terminal for fear that it might blow up. The attacks on Qatar's LNG infrastructure have shown that these are not ill-founded fears, and that a floating tank of gas is a much easier target for enemies than undersea pipelines. The export of LNG from Qatar has now collapsed. The price of LNG has soared by a third since the war began, and supply is likely to be impacted for years. Those voices within the Government who see LNG as a step towards energy security will encourage us to frack for our own gas. I am particularly affected in my area where I live in Sligo and Leitrim. We will be encouraged to frack for our own gas in Sligo, Leitrim and across the Border counties, regardless of the consequences we know exist in the form of environmental and health impacts on animals and humans. It beggars belief that there are three Government Ministers in my own constituency and they are still touting this. In fairness, the former Deputy Tony McLoughlin of Fine Gael was the first person to bring in a ban on the extraction of LNG in Ireland, but this Government has reneged completely on it. Continued reliance on fossil fuels will not bring energy security. We know it will only bring dependency on unstable regions and markets, and the continued ruination of our climate and environment. We need to drastically increase the speed at which we decarbonised. That has come up here over and over. We know we have abundant natural resources such as onshore and offshore wind and an increasingly viable solar sector. We also have huge tidal energy potential. I hope the Minister of State will listen to this. We know we need energy security. I think at this stage the penny has finally dropped with us all that we cannot rely on fossil fuels. This means smart investment in the regeneration of renewable energy and the smart electrification of our grid. We know at this stage that spending money on fossil fuel infrastructure is not an investment in energy security. It is a frittering away of our independence, our economy and our climate. If this Government does nothing else, I hope it will stop the building of this LNG infrastructure. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-29/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-29