Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 March 2022
190. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will provide a detailed note regarding Ireland’s natural gas contingency supply in the event that Ireland’s European source is discontinued due to the conflict in Ukraine [11745/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraIreland sources around one-quarter of its gas from the Corrib gas field, and three-quarters via the UK, which has diverse sources of supply. The UK’s gas supply comes mainly from indigenous supplies, via pipeline from Norway and through imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). In addition, the UK can also import via two gas interconnectors connecting the UK to Belgium and the Netherlands. Both the UK and Ireland both have far less reliance on Russian gas than other European Countries. The European Commission is a working closely with Member States to protect the resilience of Europe’s gas security of supply and the Commission is also actively engaging with other countries to ensure sufficient and timely supply of natural gas to the EU from diverse sources across the globe to avoid supply shocks, including those that could result from disruptions.
Any disruption of Russian gas supplies would maintain upward pressure on European gas prices, with knock-on effects on electricity prices. In the unlikely event of any gas supply emergency, there is excellent cooperation between Irish and UK gas system operators – to maintain security of gas supplies from the UK. This cooperation includes regular testing of emergency plans by the operators.
Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) is the designated National Gas Emergency Manager appointed by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities. GNI prepare a “Natural Gas Emergency Plan” which is subject to approval by the CRU in pursuance of its statutory functions in respect of security of gas supply. GNI’s Natural Gas Emergency Plan, which is publicly available, sets out in detail the procedure for managing a Network Gas Emergency and provides details on the role of GNI as the National Gas Emergency Manager.
