I appreciate the Deputy's remarks. It is a comprehensive body of work two years in the making. He is right. A significant amount of attention has been drawn to one of the 28 actions, namely, the creation of a strategic gas emergency reserve. I think we are in agreement that it should be State-led. It is strategic. We have to avoid anything that would promote the use of new additional gas that would breach our climate limits. We have to prepare for a world where our gas use is reduced. There is still this interim pe…

The Government's policy statement with regard to commercial or State-led strategic reserves or facilities stays in place pending the completion of the analysis by Gas Networks Ireland, GNI. It is not ruling out looking at onshore or other facilities but we expect the focus will be on temporary, strategic and State-led FSRU. We need to consider locations and other elements for the delivery of that, as well as the additional legislation that would be needed. It has to be done quickly. It will report by the second qua…

The domestic solar photovoltaic, PV, grant scheme under the microgeneration support scheme is administered on behalf of my Department by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI. The current scheme came into operation in February 2022 and built on the success of a previous pilot version of the scheme. Since 2019, over 36,500 homes have been supported under the scheme. In 2022, there were 10,017 completed installations and to date in 2023, there have been 17,766 completed installations. To date, over 24,000…

First, I would say that this has been incredibly successful. I would say the same about any scheme where one has got a doubling from 2021 to 2022, and then a doubling again from 2022 to 2023. Those sorts of numbers, with 22,000 homes involved this year, are not small. It is hugely successful, and a very welcome success in times of high energy costs. On what the supply companies do with regard to flexible rates and incentives to customers to be able to sell power back, and also to purchase power at flexible rates, t…

I do not have the schemes here in front of me but I will endeavour to get the figures and share them with the Deputy. There is a whole range of initiatives happening. In the coming weeks, we will start the building out of the solar panels that we are going to put on top of every single school roof in the country. We have already introduced schemes for the most vulnerable, particularly those using medical devices who have a consistent requirement to be using electricity in their homes, and provided for that. We will…

I will go back and look at the transcripts of the Committee of Public Accounts. In the meantime, I will get those figures on the farmers for the Deputy.

Through the first two RESS auctions, my Department has provided pathways and supports for communities to participate in renewable energy projects through the application of a community projects category. Through my Department’s continued engagement with renewable energy communities, RECs, there is evidence of significant challenges that REC projects may face with the auction-based nature of RESS, along with other barriers to project delivery. Therefore, support for communities for the development of renewable proje…

I agree that we need to be far more ambitious and see far greater delivery in the area of community energy. The Deputy attended, as did I, the European Commission and CRU event last week on empowering citizens in the energy revolution. We need to be really ambitious and fast. The auction system has not delivered what we would want, which is why we are switching. I also agree with the Deputy that one of the key issues has been grid access. Community projects often find themselves having to pay for upgrades to the gr…

The sustainable energy communities, of which there are some 750, are really important. They are very strong on retrofitting and they need to be strong on self-generation as well. Combining supply companies and generators is one of the examples from Europe we should be encouraging. The SEAI has a critical role in this regard. We need to de-risk a lot of the investment to the community sector. That does not mean waiting until every single risk is gone; it means the State must take on the risk and must ensure, in our …

Observations show that Ireland's climate is changing, with increases in average temperature, changes in precipitation patterns and weather extremes. Climate change is expected to have diverse and wide-ranging impacts on Ireland's environment, society and economic development, including on the built environment, managed and natural ecosystems, water resources, agriculture and food security, human health and coastal zones. Ireland will need to adapt to these impacts, including, in particular, flood risk, over time. M…

I agree that nature-based solutions should get the highest priority in our flood management plans because they are the most effective long-term way of holding back water. We need to work with nature. We saw devastating flooding recently in Midleton, Carlingford and Clarinbridge. The river basin catchment management process, which involves assessing water flows from the source of rivers right down to the sea, is the best way of dealing with this. I expect there will be a change in Government policy, with a real focu…

I am speaking about completing the first draft within weeks, so it will be before the end of the year. That will help to inform people and give a direction from central government, following consultation. It will set the path. The process takes too long. There are many examples one could pick of it taking a long time to take remedial measures. I could cite Sandymount in my constituency, which happens to be in the newspapers today. It has to do with flood protection from sea inundation rather than overflowing rivers…

A community projects category was included in the RESS 1 and RESS 2 competitions. In total, seven community projects were successful in the RESS 1 auction. Four remain in progress and are either energised or due to energise this year. In RESS 2, eight community projects were successful in the auction, are continuing to progress and are currently expected to energise by the end of 2025. Through my Department and SEAI’s continued engagement with RECs, there is evidence of significant challenges that REC projects may …

We came to this change because, in a sense, the auction-based system was not working. In the early 2000s, there was a similar competitive bidding system. One of the several reasons projects ran into difficulty was that people were bidding down so tightly that they were not able to get financing and get their projects built. This was a particular issue in the past two to three years. With the war in Ukraine, coming out of Covid and supply chain constraints, the price of steel, PV pounds and contractors increased. In…

One of the other key developments we need to work on – the CRU has been tasked with this and will shortly conclude its work – is grid connection policy. Of all the various aspects, that policy has been one of the main challenges. I have seen that myself in meeting various community groups. They often have grid connection points, but they take on the full cost of the relevant grid upgrades. Typically, solar is the largest example. The development of solar community projects is a positive one because they can be done…

There will be a document published in the very near future from CRU-----

The changes on the auction system was from my own personal assessment that it needed a much more guaranteed stable certain pricing regime, particularly for community.

COP28, the annual UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, will take place in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December. Mitigation of and adaptation to the impacts of climate change, climate finance for adaptation and mitigation and loss and damage will be priorities for Ireland during the conference. While public finance remains key, other more innovative sources of finance must also be identified including from the fossil fuel sector in order to support the most vulnerable countries in mitigating and building re…

I expect it to be approved, and I very much welcome it. Politics always involves compromise, but it is a significant advance which Ireland was very centrally involved in last year at Sharm el-Sheikh in the context of agreeing the principle of a fund and then being on the transitional committee to deliver it. The World Bank is an appropriate vehicle - I said as much at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September - because we need to deliver this quickly. There are immediate needs. The extent of fund…

I very much appreciated going to that event hosted by Deputy Ó Cathasaigh. It was useful. There is real urgency. The reason we support the World Bank is because we need to be quick. The former US Vice-President, Al Gore, stated in a good presentation earlier on the summer that there is a €1 billion climate impact event happening every 18 days. It is happening now. It is here and now. However, we have to recognises that the more we invest in mitigation and adaptation, the less we will have to invest in loss and dama…