To be clear, if it is deliverable, Sinn Féin supports State-owned, non-commercial storage, preferably onshore. If we are saying Kinsale might be an option, it is important it is State-owned and non-commercial to avoid the potential of lock-in and, importantly, to ensure it is transferable to zero emissions gas or hydrogen, as appropriate. We will support the Government if that is the direction of travel of the Government, and we think it needs to happen at pace. With regard to the generation capacity that is to be …

Since I have not done so yet, I echo the condolences offered by the Minister and Deputies to the family of the soldier who lost his life in Lebanon and his injured colleagues. I commiserate with their families and wish them well in the time ahead as they grieve and heal. We will have the opportunity to talk again about solar as part of a later question. What actions has the Department taken to accelerate the delivery of offshore wind energy to ensure that Ireland meets the target of 7 GW by 2030?

All today's priority questions, across the Opposition, are interrelated. They are on a theme, which is the Opposition trying to push the Government in a direction I believe the Minister wants to go. I will say again, however, that I am not convinced that Members of the Government are entirely in tune regarding it. A number of these issues are cross-departmental. From talking to those in the sector, there are two major concerns in the area of planning. The targets now being talked about are for 2035 instead of 2030.…

My understanding is that funding was approved and a number of positions were filled in respect of the climate and marine unit at An Bord Pleanála, but a greater number of positions were not even advertised, despite funding being allocated for them. Does the Minister have the detail of the staffing complement for that unit? How many are employed there in position? Will this unit have a unique focus on offshore wind and renewable projects? My understanding is that they will also be responsible for active travel proje…

No, we did not.

We did not vote against it.

Whatever one's position on the Galway ring road is, this development has highlighted, as Deputy James O'Connor has pointed out, a disconnect between the planning system and the appraisal frameworks we have to ensure that project proposals are climate-aligned, climate-proofed or carbon emissions-assessed. We also have read newspaper reports in recent weeks that a similar appraisal tool is to be used now for the IDA and Enterprise Ireland. Is a body of work under way at Government level to develop appraisal tools to …

I ask the Minister if he will increase the grant support for lower income households to aid the installation of solar photovoltaic, PV, and the target number of homes for solar PV installation in the years 2023 to 2025, inclusive, to help meet the recently announced increased target of 5 GW of installed solar power capacity by 2025.

I thank the Minister. We can all agree there is great potential and appetite for solar power, particularly for residences, businesses and farm buildings. There is a barrier at residential level and we can see it in the design of the scheme. From the large number of applications we can see there is demand. I believe the demand goes beyond the scheme, and it needs to do so to reach 5 GW. Cost is a significant barrier for people. Sinn Féin has proposed tiered support. At present the upper level of support is €2,400. A…

I ask the Minister to have a clear line of sight on who applies for the grants and who is getting the work done. We have seen in other schemes where many of the 500,000 B2-rated premises are the relatively warm homes of relatively wealthy people who can afford solar. They get solar PV installed, it takes the building up to a B2 rating and one of the 500,000 target premises is met. We need to look at those who are living in energy poverty or at risk of energy poverty and ask how many of them are getting solar PV. If…

I thank Solidarity-People Before Profit for tabling this motion. It gives us an opportunity to highlight how broken our electricity system is and how the privatisation and marketisation of it has failed our citizens. The failures of energy liberalisation are now widely accepted, but often not in the corridors are power. These failures are exemplified by the decline in the social value, affordability and security of our energy resources following the privatisation of our energy system. The ESB, our principal State-o…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to require the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to establish a cross-departmental taskforce to examine the cost of producing renewable energy in Ireland; to provide for this taskforce to consult with stakeholders and deliver within six months policy recommendations to the Minister on ways to reduce the cost of producing renewable energy per megawatt-hour. I am sharing time with Deputy Cronin. I welcome the opportunity to intro…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Sinn Féin motion. I commend Deputy Cullinane on bringing it forward. We have recruitment and retention challenges across our health service, and this Government, like previous ones, has not done enough to address them. The motion states that there is a widely held belief among the public that the current Minister is incapable of addressing the crisis in our health service and, along with the wider Government, has been making the situation worse. That statement is true. It i…

Dublin Airport’s north runway is welcome, but it is operating contrary to its planning permission. The flight paths that are being operated are not the ones that were agreed. Houses were insulated to mitigate against the noise of low-flying planes. Incredibly, many of those homes are not now on the flight path, while hundreds of others, as well as schools and businesses which were never insulated, have to live with the noise nuisance of low-flying planes for hours each day. This appears to be a spectacular error by…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this group of amendments and on this legislation. One of the central findings of the CervicalCheck scandal was showing up in lights the paternalistic nature of medicine and healthcare in Ireland. Ireland is not unique in that regard but we have a particular history, especially when it comes to women, poor people and people who are disadvantaged. In response to that, there are clear asks to address it. One of the things I took from the Scally report and this whole dreadful exper…

I welcome the points that have been made in terms of the engagement, the movement on behalf of the Minister and the need, if required, for additional time. I welcome that there seems to be some movement on the part of the Minister but the devil will be in the detail. Programmatic audits are not a new concept in the HSE or elsewhere. The question is what those programmatic audits trigger. When individual errors or issues are identified, what does that trigger? We need to be careful to recognise that these audit proc…

There is a recognised risk associated with a small number of patients attending at Navan hospital. It will probably come as no surprise that the HSE's plan is to make matters worse. In June, 17 consultants at Drogheda wrote to the Minister to state that transferring risk from one hospital's accident and emergency department to another will lead to poorer clinical outcomes for patients. They obviously have no trust in the HSE. They noted the divergence of acute stroke patients from Navan to Drogheda two years ago wa…

Our Lady Of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, does not have the capacity to take any additional patients, regardless how small the number might be. That is a statement of fact, and it has been confirmed by the 17 consultants. The Minister of State indicated that no decision has been made, as though that is a badge of honour. The Minister has had the report since 8 October. There needs to be a plan in place to resource the region and to ensure that there is safe acute and emergency care for people. That involves investing…

The issue of a commitment to a rapid transition from fossil fuels was sorely lacking in the COP27 text. What is the position of the Taoiseach and the Government on Ireland's continued membership of the Energy Charter Treaty, ECT? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, has clearly flagged that the ECT is a barrier to climate action and that it is being used by the fossil fuel industry to delay decarbonisation and to leave the public with the bill for their stranded assets. The ECT secretariat is active…