7. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if his Department has carried out any cross-simulation or cost analysis of the fines Ireland may incur if it fails to meet its 2030 climate targets; his views on whether equivalent investment would be better directed towards domestic climate action measures rather than paying fines to the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18131/25]

Sentiment score: 0.02

Go n-éirí leis an Aire ina phost nua. Has the Department carried out any cross-simulation or cost analysis of the potential fines that we are going to face if we do not reach our 2030 climate targets? Does the Minister agree that we should put the equivalent investment into our country rather than paying other EU countries, as a tap on the back, for the hard work they did? I want to know what the Department is doing because we need to do it now, at the start of this programme for Government, rather than in five years' time.

Sentiment score: 0.08

In the context of the climate action that we need to take, there is really only one show in town for Ireland, and we all know that is our offshore renewable energy. While I welcome the fact that there has been a €90 million investment in Cork port, it is not enough. We need to be investing hundreds of millions of euro in our ports because we need to extend them out and widen them. Otherwise, the giant vessels that are going to be delivering the components for the future of offshore renewable energy development will not be able to get into the ports and will not be as efficient as possible. I know the Minister is well aware of that. Will the Department commit to investing hundreds of millions of euro right now to prevent us facing billions in fines in the future? It is the young people in the Gallery who will be paying taxes on this. It is not going to be a one-time thing. This is going to be our future if we do not reach our targets. We will be fined again and again. We need to solve this now, at the start of the Government's term, rather than in five years' time.

Sentiment score: 0.15

I welcome the fact the Minister has been engaging with me on private wires legislation and I know he has a huge job ahead of him. I wish him the best of luck in his phost nua. The Government is currently paying for research, funded by Research Ireland and conducted by Dr. James Carton, my previous professor in sustainability engineering at DCU, and his colleagues at UCD. What they are telling us is that we now need to invest hundreds of millions, if not billions, to ensure this is done. Will the Minister's office release a statement outlining what is going to be done? This is not just a chance to decarbonise our energy system. It is also a chance to save ourselves billions that could be invested in schools, hospitals, Gaelscoileanna, disability services and so on. It is going to save the Exchequer millions. I understand that it is very hard for the Department to put millions into ports because there is an issue there. Can that be removed so that the Government can pump money into the ports? We do not have the infrastructure to take in the equipment. If we are serious about changing the LNG plant to a green hydrogen plant, we need to make the investment such that there will not be a bottleneck for this energy.

Sentiment score: 0.22