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

As the Senators have identified, the amendments relate to the ownership of the strategic gas emergency reserve. The strategic reserve will be in the form of a floating storage regasification unit, which is the ship that we talked about. It is to be owned on behalf of the State by the system operator, Gas Networks Ireland, which Senators, and particularly those who are members of the committee, will be well familiar with. An application for development under the project-specific pathway provided for in the Bill is limited to Gas Networks Ireland or such other public body as may be specified by the Minister. Further legislation and policy measures will, as I said, be brought forward later this year to ensure that the operation of the gas reserve is in accordance with the Government decision of March 2025, which was very clear that it would be in State ownership. I have already rehashed for Senators on a number of occasions the fact that the decision was taken not to involve private enterprise. It will be off market or out of market where it concerns the supply of gas to the reserve.

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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