Development (Strategic Gas Reserve) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-16
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Timmy Dooley (FF), Clare

I thank the Senator very much. This Bill is going through the planning laws and addressing the issues that arise in the construction of the jetty, what all that is about and the facility that has to be built on the shoreline to allow it, in the event of a necessity, to connect into the gas grid. That is that bit. The operation is an entirely separate issue, and that is why we will have dialogue about it, legislation on it and a discussion on it. Trying to put the two together, quite frankly, would not be the best approach. The Government has taken that decision, and we will happily go through all of that as we work it through.
I take the Senator’s point about the Trojan horse. There is nothing that I will be able to do to convince her otherwise. She has a very clear position on that, and I accept she has reached that point from her own thinking. I can assure her, however, that as a politician on this side of the House, I do not accept that position. The policy position and the legislation are very clear that this facility is only for an emergency.
Why else would we do it in this way? If we were going to do it in a manner that allowed for a market-led approach, then we would not be putting the burden on the State to build the facility at that cost of €1 billion. That is €1 billion that could be utilised for something else. If we were to do it, however, to get the private sector to pay for the security - I think it is accepted on all sides that there is a necessity for some security in terms of the gas supply - and if the Government were to say it would provide that through a market-led private consortium and initiate an auction to allow entities around the world to bid for it, as sure as night follows day, that would increase the use of gas. LNG would be coming in at a lower price, so more of it would be placed into the grid system and the market generally, and that would have the consequence the Senator spoke about.
If that were the approach the Government had decided on, we would be taking a completely different approach. The Senator would rightly be identifying those issues and we would have an extra €1 billion to utilise on something else. The State has taken a view, however, that is consistent with our desire and our commitments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, and onwards to 2040 and 2050, that this facility is strategic, as it says, that it is only for storage and that it is not meant to be a market play and cannot be a market play. The ownership will be in the hands of GNI, which has responsibility for the infrastructure and not for the provision of gas. That is not its thing. It buys gas into the system from different sources. I am not going to be able to convince the Senator, but I can reassure her that what she suggested is not what is at play here. I do not foresee any future Government taking decisions such as that.
I think Senator Higgins's point was she wanted something in the legislation because a future Government might take a different opinion. A future Government might take a different view and it would also be able to change the law in those circumstances to facilitate whatever its ultimate policy might be.
We have to be mindful of what this is attempting to do. It is attempting to put the legal framework in place to implement a policy that has been clearly set out as to what we are trying to achieve here. I would ask the Senators in good faith to accept that. Of course, if the Senators push their amendments, I will have to reject them. I accept where the Senators are coming from and the points they are trying to make. From the Government's perspective, we are on the same side as the Senators in terms of what they want to achieve. We think that what the Senators are proposing is unnecessary and is already catered for.

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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