Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 December 2023
141. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications what subsidies the Government has provided to develop carbon capture and storage technologies in each of the years 2015 to 2023, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53260/23]
View answerThe Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications has no records of subsidies paid to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies in the years requested.
However, several Irish assessment studies on the issue have been funded and conducted in recent years:
• SEAI, 2008: ‘Assessment of the Potential for Geological Storage of CO2 for the Island of Ireland’
• EPA, 2010: ‘An Assessment of the Potential for Geological Storage of CO2 in the Vicinity of Moneypoint, Co. Clare’
• The GSI 2014: Irish Sea Carbon Capture and Storage Project’
• SEAI 2022 'Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS)' report as part of the National Heat Study series
In the Climate Action Plan there is recognition of the importance of CCS as a developing means of mitigating emissions from hard to abate activities. Within the current Climate Action Plan there are actions to be progressed in 2024 to advance the policy position on CCS. Furthermore, since 2015, CCUS has become a more readily deployable technology as demonstrated by international projects such as The Northern Lights and The Brevik CCS projects.
