Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-30
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

The Deputy is scraping the barrel with that one. Excuse the pun.
The LNG facility is an energy security issue. It was raised under the last Government and documentation exists from the Department warning the last Government that if anything were to happen to gas interconnections with Britain, our economy would be in trouble within ten days. It would be totally irresponsible of any Government not to act on that advice. This is not a climate issue; it is an energy security issue. There is a need for honesty in the House about this matter. People in the Opposition keep saying it is an anti-climate measure, and deliberately so. That is not the case. We are not deliberately doing this to be anti-climate. We are doing it because we will need an alternative storage facility in the event of any disruption to the gas supplies to the country. Deputy Whitmore would be the first Deputy to attack the Government, if anything were to happen, for not attempting to provide for this.
It will take time, even at the pace we are going, to get this facility in place to give us the security we require. We need it. There is no other way out. It has been recommended by officials with responsibility for energy security. That is the context for it.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-30/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:06+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-30