82. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications for an update on the national hydrogen strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6406/25]

Sentiment score: 0.01

I ask the Minister for an update on the national hydrogen strategy and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Sentiment score: 0.03

Concern has been expressed, including by Hydrogen Ireland, that there is an urgent need for progress on the strategy. The strategy was welcomed and we published legislation in the previous Dáil term for it to be prepared. We welcomed it when it was prepared. It is then a matter of making it happen. There is concern that there has not been enough progress to date. While I welcome the pieces that have been progressed so far, they are largely desktop elements. I am concerned that the potential of this opportunity will be missed if the necessary steps are not taken. One of the areas with real potential here is the hard-to-decarbonise transport sector. There is lots of potential and a number of willing partners. Is this something the Government is exploring?

Sentiment score: 0.21

The message from everybody would be to keep at that work and to ensure that those timelines are met. We must show Ireland, the stakeholders here, and the world that Ireland is going to be a leader in the area of green hydrogen. The potential is there, particularly with the offshore potential that we have but again, that needs to be delivered. The energy security review is ongoing and we await the details of the outworking of that but one of the most important areas is gas storage. My party and I have serious concerns about the prospect of LNG but the potential to store hydrogen is real. The ESB, Bord Gáis and Gas Networks Ireland are looking at some of that potential. Does the Minister of State have an update on that? In the long term we will need to look at hydrogen on our grid and the storage of it will be really important.

Sentiment score: 0.20