Development (Strategic Gas Reserve) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-16
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Nessa Cosgrove (LAB), Labour Panel

I will speak to amendment No. 15. If the stated intent of the FSRU is for it to be an emergency reserve, then the logical thing to do is to put it into public ownership. There should be no question that this will go to private providers. There is no room at all for commercial operators to make a profit out of this really dangerous gas. If we are going to end up with it as a reserve - I do not think it is a reserve - can we make sure it stays in public ownership and legislate for that? The Minister of State told us it will only be used in emergencies but that is not clear in the Bill because there is no definition of an emergency. If there is an insistence that it is going to be there, this amendment would provide a safeguard that it would only be used in an emergency, it would remain in public ownership and it will not open the door to commercial operators, which is a real threat. It would be great if the Minister of State could speak to that.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:17+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-16