Carol Nolan says government risks turning Ireland into a 'basket case'

Let's go back and welcome to the stand and welcome to the stand and welcome to the stand and welcome to the stand. From the stand, let's welcome from the stand and welcome to the stand. No self-respecting government would voluntarily destabilise or indeed disown natural and long-lasting sources of energy-dependence for the state which it has the privilege to govern. Yet, this is precisely what many people see when they look at the actions of this government and its decision to essentially throw all of our energy needs into one big green basket. I would suggest that in the near to medium term, the effect of such an approach will turn Ireland into a basket case. Indeed, it is truly alarming that we now have a government that appears oblivious to any evidence which does not support its own ideological biases. One hundred years after our independence, we are as dependent as ever, it seems, on the importation of fuel, not to mention peat. This is completely at odds with what people in the past fought for in this country. The programme of the forestall in 1919 stated clearly that the people of Ireland have the right to use their own resources, but you have taken that right from us and now you have put us into a situation where we have an energy crisis. There are questions over our energy security. You need to act on these questions because they are coming from very good and reliable sources. We are now regarded as the fourth most energy insecure country according to the ESRI. You can disregard what the rural independents are saying, but are you also disregarding what the ESRI are saying in your arrogance that you do not want to hear any of this until there is a crisis. We will be in a deep crisis very shortly if you do not act. What is any sane person going to make of the fact that in 2021 alone we imported in excess of 42,800 tonnes of peat valued at 7.3 million? To do so when we have an enormous Indigenous supply simply boggles the mind. It makes no sense. It is the definition of shooting ourselves in both feet, all of the while creating a situation where emissions from such activity are multiples of what they would be if we simply used the peat and the turf on our own doorsteps. I have consistently made the point that while this Government talks a great game about transforming energy sources, promoting and increasing alternative sources, the facts say otherwise. They are black and white, those facts. Only last week it was reported online by The Ditch that while Environment Minister Eamon Ryan just more than a month ago claimed to have opened a solar farm in Wicklow, it is yet to supply any electricity to the national grid. As The Ditch have noted on the same day Minister Ryan opened the farm. His department falsely claimed in a press release that the farm was delivering electricity to Ireland's grid, again all about spin. In fact, the solar farm owned by a French multinational energy provider is yet to be made fully operational. Despite Minister Ryan and his department's claims, as well as the media fanfare that greeted the farms opening and it seems to be all about the openings and the fanfare. Then we have the problems I have repeatedly pointed to in the area of micro-generation, in terms of the micro-generation support scheme. Minister Ryan confirmed to me in a PQ reply that the Commission for Regulation of Utilities is not setting a date or deadline for the timing of the first payment to the micro-generation customers. My constituents, including farmers and families, are still waiting to receive such payments. This is totally unacceptable. As reported then, a promised one-cent litre cut to the National Oil Reserves Agency, Nora Levy, was not delivered by government. But the decision not to implement it only came to light when revealed by the Irish Independent last week. The decision means that motorists, on a whole, are battling soaring fuel rates at the pump, missed out on a saving of £20 million on fuel costs. This is to say nothing of the delays in getting the licence haulage emergency support scheme up and running. Although announced in March, it was until about six weeks later that 3,000 haulage and freight operators could actually access the scheme. Where is the sense of urgency, Minister? In terms of the broader picture and how we can offer real, practical and vastly less expensive fuel and heating alternatives. I and my colleagues in the Rural Independent Group have recently met representatives from both the Alliance for Zero Carbon Heating and Liquid Gas Ireland. These groups offer credible and sustainable alternative models that must be actively explored by government if it is serious about approaching this issue in a much more credible way. according to the