Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 April 2022
103. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the efforts that the Government is undertaking both unilaterally and with colleagues in the European Union to address the current fuel crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15349/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAt its meeting on 24 and 25 March 2022, the European Council agreed to phase out its dependency on Russian gas, oil and coal imports as soon as possible, as set out in the Versailles Declaration. The Versailles Declaration is clear that Europe needs to phase out our dependency on Russian energy imports.In playing its role to deliver upon these commitments, Ireland must ensure we meet our climate ambitions, deliver affordable energy and ensure secure supplies of energy. Ireland has been very clear in its support for the accelerated reduction of our reliance on fossil fuels, particularly through the roll-out of energy efficiency and renewable energies. In terms of Oil, markets rose steeply in response to the war in Ukraine and this fed quickly into higher pump prices. Acknowledging the impact on transport fuels, the Government introduced an Excise reduction on March 8 which led to a 20 cent per litre reduction in petrol and a 15 cent per litre reduction in diesel.
Since the onset of the conflict, I have been in regular contact with EU and International counterparts through the IEA and EU structures to monitor the fast moving situation and to agree co-ordinated responses. My Department is also in daily contact with the National Oil Reserves Agency (NORA) and the oil industry, represented by Fuels for Ireland (FFI), in order to monitor supplies into the State.
Ireland’s policy of holding a Strategic Oil Reserve equivalent to 90 days supply is required by both its membership of the EU and the International Energy Agency (IEA) and this role is performed by NORA. These reserves are ready to be deployed as necessary.
In order to help alleviate global supply concerns that emerged immediately on foot of the war in Ukraine, member countries of the IEA, including Ireland, participated in a co-ordinated release of strategic reserves that amounted to 60 million barrels. Ireland’s share of this release amounted to 222,000 barrels.
