Rose Conway-Walsh on subsea threats and energy price decoupling

Rose Conway-Walsh addressed threats to critical subsea infrastructure and the urgency of decoupling electricity from gas prices. She urged stronger domestic capability, timely intelligence sharing, and highlighted nearly half a million households in energy arrears as a threat to social cohesion.

Subsea infrastructure threats

Ireland, like many EU member states, is taking threats to critical subsea infrastructure seriously. The speaker said the state is working across relevant departments and agencies to enhance resilience and raise awareness of those threats.

Domestic capability and intelligence sharing

The speaker argued that Ireland's ability to detect, surveil and defend against subsea threats will depend largely on developing domestic capability. She also stressed the importance of sharing timely intelligence from partner states and of building as accurate a maritime picture as possible using technology and assets.

Energy affordability and household arrears

The speech highlighted the decoupling of electricity and gas prices as a key issue for affordability. The speaker noted that almost half a million households are in arrears with their energy bills and said this is a major contributor to the cost of living crisis.

Social cohesion and policy timing

The speaker warned that rising energy arrears are a threat to social cohesion and pressed for clarity on policy timing. She concluded by asking how soon the decoupling of gas and electricity prices will be implemented.