Ba mhaith liom comghairdeas mór a dhéanamh le Catherine Connolly, an Uachtarán-elect. What I say in this contribution is not directed at the Minister of State; it is directed at the entire system I have been facing ever since being elected to this House. I welcome the Bill and the opportunity it provides. The billions of euro in investment in ESB Networks are badly needed. I am a member of the climate and energy committee and we are constantly discussing how Ireland's electricity system will be developed over the next four years we are in government. This is essential infrastructure. It underpins huge issues we face across Departments, from the housing crisis to economic growth gridlocks and the renewable energy transition. I love how we call it a transition; it is not a transition but the complete scrapping of our current energy system and the building of a new one. We are changing, like the entire world is. This scale of investment, with the hundreds of projects and the substations, has been needed for years. I welcome the funding and the fact the ESB is getting reduced rates. It is helping to secure Ireland's energy future. We will face huge fines running into billions of euro regarding our energy. That is not 100% confirmed by the EU but if it is the case we need to do everything now. I have spoken about this in the House multiple times. That is why we cannot ignore the wider truths. It is a fact that our energy system is not keeping pace. I recently visited multiple solar farms across Ireland during the break. The owners and engineers told me they are turning off solar farms because the grid cannot take it due to curtailment. I understand the Bill is trying to tackle that but it needs to be fast-tracked because it does not make sense that we are turning off Irish solar farms to then import, as the previous Deputy mentioned, electricity from the UK that is from nuclear plants and other projects that they have, and buying off them when we have our own solar farms. It does not make sense to the public or to me. It is just bureaucracy and outdated policy. We saw this before with the North-South interconnector. It was identified in 2008 and is still not built. That critical infrastructure is delayed not by technology but by indecision. When I entered this House, one of the reasons the Ceann Comhairle ruled I was not a Member of the Opposition was that I claimed private wire policy was a win for me and my team. That policy is something I have been working on since January and I met with the OPLA today to review the Bill I am working on. The Bill is for small-scale local issues, to help eco-villages and small industry; it is not going to help big industry.

Sentiment score: 0.18

These small local issues will be the things that help. At the moment, it is not only that there is a housing crisis. Where somebody is waiting for a connection to build houses, if someone else can easily build a solar farm and have a direct line link to those houses, it will speed up everything. Germany, the UK and Denmark are doing it. I understand the Government is bringing forward a policy and I welcome the fact the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, announced that, but it needs to be fast-tracked. When I knock on doors in my constituency, I find people are struggling with energy bills. Private wires will reduce bills because of the demand on the grid being used by big energy. If they can take that off, this will reduce the demand and the cost per unit. We constantly discuss in the climate and energy committee the curtailment we will face with the ORE being built across Ireland at the moment. It is great to see. There was a €90 million investment in Cork Port. It was great but many experts say we need to put more than €90 million in for when these large vessels come in to develop offshore renewable energy projects. To make it as effective as possible, more needs to be going in. I asked two weeks ago for the maritime law to be changed so the Department could put this on. It would be very good if this could be looked at and fast-tracked. If we could build infrastructure at our ports in the west using offshore renewable energy off the coast of my constituency, we could tackle the curtailment, take in the surplus energy, build electrolysis centres with private wires and have long-duration energy. The end goal is being as efficient as possible. No other country has the potential we have on our coasts to build our grid. With this great Bill, which I welcome, it needs to be done correctly. We need experts there. It cannot be brought down by inertia and indecision. Private wires can play a major role in reducing emissions, cutting connection delays and supporting economic activity. Eco-villages across the country help us decarbonise the data sector while allowing it to grow responsibly. I am well aware 53,000 jobs are directly or indirectly linked to the data centre industry in this country. I will not say the industry needs to be removed. I understand the FDI that comes from it but we need to mitigate the damage it is causing. That is something we can do right now. Solar farms across the country are waiting 18 to 24 months, on record, for a connection. It is ridiculous that they are built, sitting there and not supplying homes. I urge the Minister of State and his Department to look into fast-tracking private wires as a simple win for the Government and for our climate, our housing and our entire grid system.

Sentiment score: 0.16