Darren O'Rourke
Question:68. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications his views on the upcoming climate action plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62750/22]
Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions
Climate Action Plan
I ask the Minister for his views on the upcoming climate action plan and invite him to make a statement on the matter.
With the forbearance of the Acting Chairman, I, like other Deputies, pass on my condolences to the family of the soldier who died in Lebanon last night. Our thoughts are with those who were wounded. We wish them a speedy recovery. They do remarkable work and take enormous risks on our behalf and on behalf of the people of the world who are most threatened. I am sure other Deputies would reflect and share the same sense of grief and loss that everyone feels for that family.
That is agreed.
I will turn to the climate action plan, which is due to go to the Government on Tuesday. It will be published. I heard some Deputies say we could have debated the plan this week. I would have preferred to do that but we will have plenty of time. There will be time over the Christmas break for Deputies to be able to read what is quite a long document. I hope to have an extensive debate in the new year, which would be just as appropriate if not more so. It will give us time to consider and listen to some of the views of the Opposition.
The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 significantly strengthened the legally binding framework for climate governance in Ireland. It requires delivery of successful climate action plans and long-term climate strategies supported by a system of carbon budgeting and sector emissions ceilings. The introduction and adoption of these budgets and ceilings this year has set out a clear pathway for meeting our carbon budgets and Ireland's commitment to a 51% reduction in emissions by 2030. Those ceilings will be reflected in the next climate action plan which, as I said, is due to be published next week. It is the first action plan to be developed under the provisions of the 2021 Act. Therefore, the plan will reflect the specific requirements of that Act, to include policies, measures and actions for each sector to ensure compliance with our sectoral emissions ceilings and on the pathway to net zero emissions by not later than 2050.
I will point to what I see as some of the highlights of the plan while noting it still must be agreed by the Government and, therefore, remains provisional. It will show a significant scaling up of our ambition and in the delivery of new renewable powers. The war in Ukraine and the high price of fossil fuel gas at the moment is going to drive that, but the plan is going to set out a scale of delivery in that respect that is like nothing we have seen before. We will have to continue with, and double down on, the measures that promote energy efficiency to ensure we use such energy wisely. In transport, there is significant change away from just looking to improve the electric vehicle fleet towards reducing transport demand and shifting to public transport. In agriculture, the plan will promote significant diversification to new ways of earning income and getting work for farming communities, which will help to reduce emissions and move away from a reliance on dairy and beef as our main agricultural outputs. The plan also has applications in respect of the development of the circular economy, which is an industrial application issue. That is another area that will have responsibilities. Those are the core areas where the plan will set out new measures.
It is clear the climate action plan is going to need to deliver a step change. We and others in the Opposition have been critical about the approach the Government has taken, particularly in respect of the design of schemes. Many of the retrofitting and electric vehicle schemes are unfair because they are inaccessible to many people. At root, it is clear we are on the wrong trajectory. The Energy in Ireland report stated that, last year, emissions increased by 5.4% instead of reducing by 4.8%.
The same is likely if not worse this year. This places a very significant challenge on meeting next year's target. Including the upcoming climate action plan, when does the Minister believe our first carbon budget will be exhausted? Will it be exhausted next year or in 2024? Will the climate action plan deliver the type of step change that is needed? We need corrective action at this stage to get back on track because we are so far off it.
We are heading the wrong direction but we are turning this ship and State around. I am absolutely convinced that we can do it. We will be good at it. It is challenging. The statistics I read this morning indicate that our economy has expected growth of 8% this year. That is not an excuse but a reality. We have a massive increase in population. Our targets are not set on a per capita basis, they are fixed quantum so when an additional 70,000 people come into the country, and in fact there are far more if we include migrant workers and others coming, as well as natural population increase, it presents very significant challenges. I believe we can do it. There were significant increases last year due largely to transport and agriculture. Transport is coming back because of post-Covid-19 activity and agriculture because of growth in the dairy herd primarily. To be honest it is uncertain. I look forward to the final figure from SEAI. There are slightly different statistics. The Central Statistics Office, CSO, came out the other day with an assessment of a reduction in transport overall use. We will review those SEAI figures. This work has advanced and developed the modelling capability in the State. We are working collectively on that. We can and will meet the targets and the budgets. More than anything else it requires political commitment. There is no shortage of it on this side. However, much of what feeds into this is in local government and in future Governments to ensure we deliver on what has been set out.
Let us get real. I have heard that a few times from the Minister. Deputy Ryan is the Minister with responsibility to deliver on this and he said we are going to meet our budgets. We are not going to meet our first carbon budget. It is very clear that we are not. I am not saying that in order to score political points. Of course there is a need for significant movement in local government. We know that in regard to delivery of active travel. However, there needs to be a recognition that the Government’s approach is not delivering. It is a challenge and the Minister does not have to accept everything that the Opposition says in regard to the design of schemes but it is clear, as the SEAI said yesterday, that there was an increase of 17.3% in electricity generation because we are heavily reliant on coal, oil and gas. We support the Minister on delivery of renewables. We want to see that happen. That is why I have a question later on which will deal with that. When will the first carbon budget be exhausted? That is a straight question. I would like a straight answer to it. I do not doubt the Minister's own commitment to this but I severely doubt his Government's commitment to delivery. We cannot get from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to the Committee on Environment and Climate Action. It is very serious. I do not accept that there is a Government commitment to deliver on these budgets. I think they will be missed. There needs to be an acknowledgement of that.
We cannot predict forward to 2025 yet.
We have a fair idea.
There are challenges. I use the word "can". It is not certain. It will require incredible change, a scale of change that nobody really understands yet in the political system. Work being done here is on the basis of real, detailed modelling of what is actually happening in our country and what would happen if we took certain steps. If we look at that SEAI press release and what it says about what we need to do to get back on track, and we need to come back on track, those are the broad measures that are included in the climate action plan. It is based on a realistic assessment of what is happening throughout the country and what could happen. It is not certain. Nothing is certain in this world. It is changing very quickly. We are going to give it our absolute best shot. The best shot is set out within the climate action plan. I am absolutely committed to doing everything I can to make it happen. Nobody should underestimate the scale of the challenge. The challenge of transport, just to pick one, involves the reallocation of space. When I go around the country to all the councils to ask what they are going to do to deliver that, it is not easy. More than anything else it will require political commitment in this House and at local government level to take some brave, ambitious decisions which will benefit this country. It is not certain but we can do it.
Climate Action Plan
Ivana Bacik
Question:69. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the ways in which the ongoing review into energy security will integrate sectoral emissions ceiling and carbon budget obligations; his plans to ensure that as-demand reduction measures are prioritised in the review; and the ways in which the principles of a just transition will be integrated into the review. [62757/22]
I agree with the Minister. Our country is heartbroken this morning. More will be said about that later but I join with the Minister in his condolences with the family of the lost soldier.
Will the Minister make a statement on the ways in which the ongoing review in energy security will integrate sectoral emissions ceiling and carbon budget obligations, his plans to ensure that as-demand reduction measures are prioritised in the review, and the ways in which the principles of a just transition will be integrated into the review?
The review of the security of energy supply of Ireland's electricity and natural gas systems is focused on the period to 2030, but in the context of ensuring a sustainable transition up to 2050. The review is considering the risks to both natural gas and electricity supplies and a range of measures required to address these risks. This includes the need for additional capacity of indigenous renewable energy and also the need to import energy, energy storage, fuel diversification and renewable gases such as hydrogen. The review set out a range of options for consideration and demand side response necessary as part of those options. For example, the gas mitigation package includes gas storage, renewable gas, green hydrogen and demand side response. Similarly, the electricity mitigation package includes demand side management and batteries. The consultation document has also highlighted that the most secure energy is the energy that we do not use and therefore, energy efficiency should always form part of our response to energy security.
As part of the review, my Department carried out a consultation seeking views from interested parties on policy measures that could be implemented to support Ireland's security of supply framework. The consultation closed on Friday, 28 October and over 400 responses have been received. My Department is now working through these responses carefully. The completion of the review will be a key priority for Government. Insofar as just transition is concerned Climate Action Plan 2021, which will be replicated in the one due to be published next week, sets out a just transition framework to guide our approach to implementing our climate action policies. It is to be a central component of everything we do in this time of change to ensure that it delivers social justice, ecological justice as well as energy security.
The Labour Party has concerns partly because briefing documents prepared for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, which were obtained under freedom of information, reported in The Business Post at the weekend, stated it is not feasible for Ireland to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030. We are particularly concerned to see this concession made by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Agricultural methane emissions from livestock account for 95% of Ireland's methane emissions overall. Methane emissions from livestock have increased in recent years, not reduced. The briefing document stated the pledge to cut methane emissions allows for individual countries to pledge lower amounts. What is the Minister's view of these briefing documents prepared for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, and do they speak for the Government?
I saw the reports in The Business Post but I have not read the full briefing documents. The issue of methane is somewhat separate to the energy security issue. It relates primarily to our climate targets and the need to reduce those short-lived greenhouse gases. We are committed within the European Union, in the wider global context, to deliver on that 30% methane reduction. I attended a meeting of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition in COP27 in Egypt. The Climate and Clean Air Coalition is the United Nations body charged with organising and delivering those targets in regard to reducing short-lived greenhouse gases. There was a clear understanding there that the first immediate priority is particularly in the area of fossil methane because the solutions can come very quickly and can actually save a great deal of money. The leakage of gas from pipelines and the flaring of gas from the well-head is a huge source of such methane emissions which can be reduced very quickly.
That is the immediate focus. It was agreed there. We are very much involved and we have a member on the board of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition. We are very supportive and we are funding the work that is going to be done to show how land-use methane emissions can also be reduced. This is complicated because it includes, for example, rice growing, which would be a major source of methane emissions, and while we could change the practice, we do not want to risk food security.
Ireland will have to reduce its methane from agriculture as well, and that is recognised within our climate plans. I believe it is increasingly recognised within the agriculture sector that we cannot just continue to ignore those rising emissions which we saw last year from agriculture. Methane, as well as nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide from other elements of agriculture, will have to be reduced in line with our overall plan.
As the Minister knows, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, has made it clear a methane emissions reduction of almost 30% is required to achieve a 22% reduction in agricultural emissions, and we all remember the row over the summer in regard to emissions savings. We would have liked to have seen a commitment closer to a 30% reduction. The lower ceiling which is in place instead was accepted on the basis that it could not be exceeded. However, going by this report in the newspaper at the weekend, no credible pathway has been established by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to achieve the less ambitious commitment it made. Is it not concerning for the Minister not just that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine clearly is not on board but, potentially, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is not on board?
I believe they are on board and he is on board, and I believe Irish farmers want to play their part. As evidence, the new agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, the new mechanism to try to improve the environmental performance of farming, is massively oversubscribed. If we look at farm visits at the moment in the organic sector, there are very significant numbers coming in because they realise the high emissions alternative is increasingly expensive. Yes, I would have liked a higher target of 30% in agriculture, but we work with people and work with the agricultural sector and the farming community. Pointing the finger, blaming and shaming them, and saying they are the problem will not get us very far. What we need to do is ask for their help and make sure the change that is coming is good for Irish farming, for young people and for family farms in particular. It is less intensive, less industrial, with less emissions but with better income and better outcomes for Irish farming. It is more stable and secure and is not dependent on big global markets, where the big processing companies, whether in beef or dairy, are the ones who make all the money, which is characteristic of the system we have seen develop in recent years. I think agriculture is ready to play its part and we will work with it to make this happen.
Energy Policy
Darren O'Rourke
Question:70. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the action he has taken since the publication of the energy security review to improve Ireland’s energy security; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62751/22]
What action has the Minister taken since the publication of the energy security review to improve Ireland's energy security? I am particularly interested in the area of gas storage and the emergency backup that is due for delivery next year. With regard to the scheduled capacity that is due to come on stream, I understand there is a challenge in delivering that.
I referred to the energy security review in an earlier response, so I might immediately respond to the Deputy’s questions in his verbal presentation. With regard to backup generation, which is critical, we have all been watching this in the past week, when our wind power was very low because of the high pressure across north-west Europe. With the very cold conditions, there has been very high demand for electricity and, obviously, we have been very tight in terms of availability. I am glad to say our system has held up in probably the most challenging conditions and, in the coldest, darkest part of the year with the calmest conditions, we were able to provide power. Nothing is guaranteed through the rest of this winter and we could lose plant or have other circumstances, and interconnection with the UK might be tricky because France and the UK have similar problems. However, I am glad we are managing through the immediate very cold period.
We will introduce a further 245 MW of procurement of emergency power. Work is ongoing on that in North Wall and Huntstown, which is the second location, to deliver that next autumn. Work contracts have also been signed. I was very appreciative this House agreed the legislation which will allow us also to purchase a further 450 MW of backup generation just for use in the last eventuality, if other plants are not available. Again, contracts are signed. The critical timeline to deliver it will be on the planning side with regard to whether it is delayed or how quickly we can get it through the planning system.
There is also ongoing work on the T-3 auctions and T-4 auctions, which will deliver further backup. We need gas-fired power generation to provide backup in periods like this when wind is very low. Critically, this will allow us to turn away from coal and oil, which have the highest emissions and which is the reason our emissions are so high at the moment. It is one of the biggest problems we have and we need to switch those off. The generation coming out of those T-3 and T-4 auctions are now our first priority and we need to deliver the majority of those. We can and will deliver that. I will come back to the Deputy on the storage piece in the second part of my reply.
I will afford the Minister 30 seconds of my time for that. There is the storage piece and there was also a question mark over the viability of projects that were to be delivered next year and in the years ahead, related to the January auction by EirGrid. The last time we spoke here, the Minister said the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, was looking at it. I ask for an update as to whether those projects are going to be delivered.
It is complicated because these are complicated issues and the timelines are tight. I would be interested to hear the Sinn Féin view on storage. I do not know if Sinn Féin was one of the 400 consultees in terms of which type to use. There are a variety of options. There is the option, which is coming back into view, of looking at the Kinsale gasfield, which had been used as a storage facility in the closing years of its operation and which has the right geological characteristics to be able to do that. We would have to put in a larger wellhead and, obviously, there would have to be a build-up because while it has existing cushion gas, it would need a further layer or volume of that. That is now being looked at by some people as one viable option.
I had a very good meeting with Gas Networks Ireland, which would have views on what is possible. In the work I have seen it do, it has cited examples in the US where there can be significant onshore storage facilities that will provide some of the flexibility and backup we need. Others are arguing for commercial locations and various types of LNG facilities. We will need storage, and we need it for security reasons as well as flexibility reasons. Picking the right one for the State's interest is what will be key. I look forward to hearing the Sinn Féin view in that regard.
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 delivered next year, there was a question mark over this. Will it be delivered? Has the CRU delivered a judgment or when will it do so in regard to the index-linking or financial viability of those projects?
The decision on that index-linking issue relates to the T-3 and T-4 auctions, which will not come next year, and it is in 2024 and 2025 when that generation was always expected to come. The generation that is due next year is the emergency procurement and emergency purchasing, which is done to close the gap from the failure of the auction back in 2019 to deliver a similar quantity of about 700 MW of power. As I said, I am very confident now that, on procurement, the first transfer of 250 MW will be delivered next year and the 450 MW additional is on track, but the key constraint in regard to how quickly that happens will be the planning system.
In that, or through the legislation we have passed here, we have given a clear direction to An Bord Pleanála and mechanisms to accelerate the planning and to ensure that happens. In reality, that is probably the biggest challenge. We are meeting EirGrid and CRU to assist as part of our ongoing reviews of the delivery of that. We need all three, the emergency procurement, the purchasing, and, critically, the T-3 and T-4 auction supplies, which will come in later years, in 2024 and 2025.
Climate Action Plan
Jennifer Whitmore
Question:71. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will provide an update on all carbon reductions achieved as a direct result of implemented targets in the Climate Action Plan 2021. [62721/22]
I too send my sincere sympathies to the loved ones, family and colleagues of the soldier who was tragically killed last night and to the soldiers who have been injured. It is a devastating thing to happen for those families.
Will the Minister provide an update on all carbon reductions achieved as a direct result of implemented targets in the Climate Action Plan 2021?
The Climate Action Plan 2021, which was published in November 2021, set out a detailed roadmap for meeting our climate ambition under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 and included indicative ranges of emission reductions for each sector of the economy. The update for this year will follow on from the ambition set out in that and will reflect a strengthened climate governance framework.
Recent EPA reports have indicated that, as we have emerged from Covid-19, our national emissions have begun to increase again, by 4.7% last year, as some sectors have recovered. This has followed an overall decrease of 3.6% in 2020. The increase in total emissions in the past year has been driven by the use of coal and oil for electricity generation, as we have just discussed, as well as increases in both the agriculture and transport sectors. The recently approved sectoral emissions ceilings set out a framework for meeting our carbon budgets and our commitment to the 50% reduction in emissions by 2030. These will be reflected in the climate action plan due to be published next week.
Examples of where there have been reductions and where measures have actually been delivering in the past year are where we connected 700 MW of renewable power so far this year. That is a record year and we have never connected as much. What is really interesting is we are starting to see new sources such as solar power, which have been delivered through this auction process. That renewables capacity is critical to meeting our climate reduction targets.
A second example would be peatland restoration. To date, 10,511 ha have been rehabilitated across 35 bogs. That has delivered an emissions reduction of 68,000 tonnes of CO2 and will continue to do so each and every year because that is a permanent reduction process. That is 10,500 ha out of the 33,000 ha we have committed to do. As the Deputy would know, there are also great benefits in biodiversity as well as carbon benefits, together with benefit in just transition where some of the same people who have been employed and have skills in extracting turf have now been redeployed with other skills.
A third example would be the national retrofit plan, which was published last year. We are on target to what we said this year. A total of 27,000 houses have been upgraded with an estimated 33,000 tonnes in carbon savings, together with 131 GW hours in energy savings. Real change is happening and we are on track to do what we said we would do in retrofitting and renewables and in the rehabilitation of bogland. We need to do far more and to multiply the delivery but we are delivering.
I thank the Minister very much. I have great concerns. I have said repeatedly that I very much want the Minister to succeed in government because we need him to do so. I have worked in this sector for 20 to 30 years and I am becoming increasingly downhearted by the fact that I do not believe this Government will meet the targets or achieve what needs to happen. My biggest fear at this moment is that the Minister does not recognise that, that he thinks everything is still on track and, as he said earlier on, that he is slowly turning the ship around. Our emissions went up last year. We have the second highest emissions per capita in Europe and this Government has not met a single one of its targets yet.
The Government talks about retrofitting 27,000 homes. How many of those homes will be retrofitted to B2 standard? The Minister's target is for 500,000 houses at B2 standard in six to seven years’ time. I do not have faith that is going to happen. I wish that was not the case.
I have the annexe to the Climate Action Plan 2021. There are 493 actions on 250 pages, yet 166 delayed measures were still not done by November of this year, and the Minister’s Department has failed to action 41% of its own actions on time.
The Government is very good at producing documents, proposals, plans and coming out with very big headline statements, but delivering is where the Government is falling down. Where is the Government actually delivering and what changes is the Government going to make in the new climate action plan that reflect the reality that emissions have gone up and there have been delays in meeting targets?
Those 10,500 ha of rewetted bogs are real, big and significant. Those 27,000 houses may not all be up to B2 standard but we knew that going into the year. That is what we set ourselves as a target, and we delivered it.
There are 500,000-----
Those 700 MW of power are real. The Deputy is correct in that no one should be in any way complacent or have a false optimism, because the challenge and scale of the changes is so large and they will not be easy to deliver. We do not give up. Resilience is part of what we need in this whole climate approach.
There are three real restrictions which are holding us back. One is in planning. We all know our planning system is not functioning or delivering for either the environment or for the development of our country, and that is why we are introducing significant legislative changes to make that work better.
The second is our people. Our economy is at absolute full throttle and is growing 8% a year. It is very difficult to get many of the people we need. Bus drivers alone, if I can give one example, are a constraint in respect of the switch to public transport. The availability of bus drivers is our biggest problem. We are pointing in the right direction and there are actions taking place. We have 8,000 apprenticeships, which is the biggest number ever, going into retrofitting and other industries to help us make it happen. It takes time but we are addressing the obstacles.
The biggest obstacle still is politics, to be honest. There are Deputies in this House, and I would not doubt any of those present, about whose commitment on this issue I would wonder. We all know we can go around the country to every council and into any debate here in this House, and when it comes to the actual changes we need to make, the real political consensus, sense of urgency and hard decisions are still politically difficult. That is one of the things we have to change.
I agree with the Minister that there are Deputies in this House and councillors who do not fully grasp the reality of climate change, what will be and what is coming down the track to us. People and communities need to understand, and the Minister needs to help them make the changes they need to make.
The Social Democrats have sent a proposal in respect of solar to the Minister, and I will keep on talking about it because it will reduce people’s household energy demand by 40%. For some reason, the Government is not funding or doing this. That is a big gap in what the Minister is doing.
The Minister talks about the 700 MW of renewable power. That is very welcome, but how many hundreds of megawatts of emergency generation has the Minister allocated and granted this year to coal and gas-fired generation because he has allowed data centres to continue at pace with the pressures they have put on our energy grid? The Minister cannot look at these issues separately and there must be a holistic approach. All arms of Government need to be working on this. I fear the Minister is not being given the support from his colleagues in this. A whole-of-government approach is needed.
If we take solar energy as just one example, we will be setting a target, as I set out in my convention speech two weeks ago, for something like 5 GW of solar-generated energy by 2025. That is as much renewable energy as we have ever developed in the past 20 years just in solar energy in the next three years, and this gives the scale of change.
What makes me think we can actually do that? First, we are seeing those renewable auction systems, and there is a series of them. We learn as we go through each one, refining and changing them. Indexation could be one example of where we might adjust and change.
I am confident that a very significant proportion - I cannot remember the exact figure but at least half - of the solar we need is already on-stream and coming through that auction process. We need to change and go further, including looking at the concept around private wires in order that industry might be able to self-generate at scale to provide some of the back-up power we need and, significantly, deliver that quickly within the next three years. We also need to change the rules on farming to allow up to 6 MW of solar power to be delivered outside the auction process in order that we do not get caught up in all the complexities of that. Every school in this country in the next three years will use the carbon fund to install solar panels. I could go on. These are real measures that will make a real difference to us meeting what is an incredibly ambitious target. That is what we are doing. That is what is happening on the ground in reality.
Wind Energy Generation
Darren O'Rourke
Question:72. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the actions that his Department is taking to accelerate the delivery of offshore wind energy to ensure that Ireland meets the target of 7 GW by 2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62752/22]
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?
As Ireland's maritime area is seven times the size of its landmass, and our location is at the edge of the Atlantic, I am critically aware that the potential for offshore renewable energy in Ireland is enormous. The offshore wind delivery task force is central to realising this potential and to meeting our targets. The goal of this task force is to accelerate and drive delivery of offshore wind by public bodies. To achieve this, it is developing a single system-wide plan, bringing together the work ongoing across Government to deliver on our offshore wind ambitions. This includes matters relating to supply chain, ports policy, skills and workforce, and regulatory consenting. I intend to bring this system-wide plan to Government for approval in early 2023.
With respect to work under way in my Department to accelerate delivery of offshore wind, the Government recently approved the terms and conditions for the first offshore wind auction under the renewable electricity support scheme. This is expected to provide a route to market for at least 2.5 GW of offshore renewable energy, ORE. This auction will take place in the first half of 2023. Furthermore, in advance of the establishment of the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, in early 2023, I have the legal authority to assess maritime area consent, MAC, applications from a set of prequalified ORE projects. Initial decisions on the first MACs have been issued, with legal documentation now being finalised, which will allow successful projects to apply for planning permission from An Bord Pleanála.
We are on the verge of starting this first auction process through issuing the MACs and then allowing the companies go into this auction process, which was set out last month. Central to this will be the designation by the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Noonan, of special protection areas, SPAs, and special areas of conservation, SACs. This will allow us to get the environmental planning of this right, in order that we can go into the planning process by the middle of next year, and get projects through that process in timelines that will allow us to deliver power in 2025-26 or to start building power plants in that timeframe.
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. The Minister recognises that. That is happening, as I see it. A major, immediate concern relates to ports and planning. There is a concern in the planning sector that MARA will not happen in time and that An Bord Pleanála, or whatever the structure will be to clear applications, is not adequately resourced. Is this a major priority for the Minister? What is being done in respect of it?
That is an absolute priority, not just for me but my Government colleagues across this House. The Deputy is right to focus on planning constraints being the real obstacle but An Bord Pleanála is now being resourced with the key expertise it needs in that section. A special unit and team of people are being assembled, with the maritime, ecology and marine planning skills that are needed. That will be aligned with the establishment of MARA, which will be done on time. We got that legislation through the House in time to be able to introduce that body next year, when it will take over the running of that consenting format. There is also the wider legislation that the Government considered the other day, which related to overall improvement of our planning system, the development of marine protected areas and, as I cited, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan's work on the SPAs and the SACs, which is probably the most critical issue we need to get right. Everyone is agreed that this is the first priority in the economic development of the State, as well as in our climate plans. We will deliver it by 2030 and not beyond.
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 projects and other projects not related to the delivery of offshore wind. Will their time and focus be diluted? Ports are a major pinch point. How will they be prioritised in the year ahead?
Last night, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, introduced legislation to allow us to do the real, essential development of An Bord Pleanála and to bring in new board members and so on. If I recall correctly, Sinn Féin voted against the legislation.
No, we did not.
Sinn Féin abstained on it.
We did not vote against it.
Sinn Féin did not vote against it. Fair enough. That legislation was critical and key. The Deputy is right in that I do not have the full detail on how many new people An Bord Pleanála has taken on. My view is we will have to massively increase the staffing of An Bord Pleanála and not just on the marine planning side. In the areas of transport, energy and housing, I see An Bord Pleanála resourcing as the greatest constraint on delivering what our people need. We will see reform of An Bord Pleanála in that it will be massively scaled up, not just through the numbers of positions we have seen advertised to date but with far greater resources that will be needed, because that resourcing constraint is the biggest obstacle and block to delivery of housing, transport, energy and water infrastructure. That has to change.
Data Centres
Ivana Bacik
Question:73. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications his plans to ensure that confirmed data centre connections will not increase emissions; and his plans to ensure that confirmed data centre connections do not lock in higher gas demand. [62758/22]
What are the Minister's plans to ensure confirmed data centres connections will not increase emissions? What are his plans to ensure that such connections do not lock in higher gas demands?
The Government's decision on sectoral emissions ceilings means we must reduce electricity emissions to approximately 3 million tonnes per annum by 2030 for the electricity sector, which is the steepest decline of all sectors in the economy. The targets are particularly challenging because of increasing electricity demand, including demand from data centres, and the electrification of heat and transport. Our principal tools to ensure our emissions are on track is to use renewable electricity to power our grid and to ensure demand growth is sustainable, flexible and consistent with the legally binding ceiling. We are already producing more than 40% of our electricity from renewable sources and we need to increase this to 80% by 2030 to meet our sectoral emission ceilings.
The Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, has determined in its November 2021 direction that new data centre connections offers must be based on them having adequate on-site dispatchable generation or storage or both as back-up.
In July of this year, the Government published a new statement on the role of data centres in Ireland's enterprise strategy. The statement addresses sustainable data centre development to align with Ireland's renewable energy targets, security of supply, sectoral emissions and climate priorities. The policy is clear that islanded data centre developments, that is, developments not connected to the electricity grid and powered mainly by on-site fossil fuel generation, would not be in line with national policy. The forthcoming climate action plan will set out a comprehensive pathway for the decarbonisation of our electricity sector in line with the sectoral emission ceilings.
While I am not referring to the Deputy himself, a large number of Deputies in this House seem to believe that all our woes and all our ills in respect of meeting our climate targets are down to the development of data centres. Ensuring that demand and supply match and that everything forms part of a decarbonised future is a real issue but we can do it. We will need and want data centres in our country because they are a central part of our economic strategy and security. However, they must be part of a plan for decarbonisation and, in my mind, they want to be. The companies behind these data centres are going to have to work with the Government, as I believe they will, to ensure we keep the economic strength that comes with data centres while not missing climate targets or seeing an impact on our energy security.
Ireland could have 146 data centres if all approved projects and projects seeking planning permission go ahead. If all of these projects are completed, the power demand capacity will triple. The disorganised nature of this rapid growth in the sector is problematic for our climate ambitions and for families who are worried about the lights and heat going off this cold and dark winter. The Government needs to institute a moratorium on new connections until it gets to grips with what is happening. Those making these proposals have been labelled as too drastic but power outages and climate chaos are drastic outcomes. It is not just those on the Opposition benches who have been raising these concerns. We hear it privately from Government representatives as well. Indeed, a Government backbencher was making these very same points on national radio during the week.
When this State enters a contract, it honours that contract. If contracts are breached, what can the Government be trusted to do in any other circumstances? Such breaches end up costing far more because people price in the risk associated with not being able to trust those who do not abide by contracts. It is therefore in our interests, as a State, to be honest and to abide by contracts we willingly enter into. That is not to say that we do not work with industry and tell it that it must play its part in helping us meet decarbonisation targets. That is a key part of most companies' commitments, especially in light of the new accounting rules coming in. We will have to manage this. There will be an expansion. New data centres are already contracted for. There will be an increase. Additional capacity of 80 MW has been required each year for the last three years. The increase is likely to continue along those lines, although reducing somewhat in later years. That is what is expected in the medium term. That does not stop us from working with companies to ensure that their back-up power can help us to create a secure network, to ensure that this power comes from low or zero-carbon sources rather than failing to help us meet our carbon targets and to manage demand and choose locations in a way that helps us to balance energy security and climate considerations. We are working with the companies to ensure that is what happens.
As the Minister knows, demand for gas for electricity generation, heating and other uses must fall by 40% this decade and by a further 80% in the 2030s if we are to meet our climate commitments. Despite this, we continue to prepare to build new gas-fuelled electricity generation plants. Even if all future data centres were to run on renewable energy, it would leave shortages of clean energy for other sectors. Gas is wrongly being peddled as a silver-bullet transition fuel. As the Minister knows, the effect of carbon emissions is cumulative. Is it not fair to say that we are locking in this infrastructure without a national plan?
For certainty on this matter, I wrote to Gas Networks Ireland earlier in the year. It is not just about data centres. There is a whole range of areas in which Gas Networks Ireland must be told to stop expansion. These include the delivery of gas to new homes and new data centres because it will only cost us later as we will have to take that infrastructure out. We have made it clear to Gas Networks Ireland that this is not where we are going under Government strategy. We are going to move towards very large-scale deployment of renewable energy. That will not be easy but I believe we can deliver it. That will give us a more stable fuel source for data centres at a lower cost while emitting less carbon. Electricity is the primary source of energy for the heating, cooling and power systems these data centres need for their operation. I will again refer to a meeting I attended at COP27 in Egypt with the largest of these new data centre companies. That company said that it was going to switch to measuring carbon associated with delivery hour by hour rather than just buying up renewable power supply. It recognises that it must ensure its operations move towards zero carbon hour by hour and we are going to work with that company on this. As a country, we can provide that capability through our renewables system, through grid management, which we are good at, and through energy management and balancing capability. We have every reason to help companies with delivering on this. This industry will not be gas-fired into the future. It will have to be zero carbon.