John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to discuss and comment on the report launched this morning by Wind Energy Ireland on green hydrogen and the role it can play in Ireland's energy transition. From reading the report, I believe it is clear that renewable electricity can play a vital role in Ireland's transition to a net-zero society, boost our economy and make our energy supply much more secure. I read the first ten pages of the report; I hope to read the rest of it this evening. It shows how Ireland's abundant wind energy resources could produce vast quantities of green hydrogen. This can be used to reduce significantly our dependence on imported fossil fuels, which caused a lot of significant energy spikes throughout 2021, which we discussed in this House.

The report also sets out how green hydrogen has emerged as a leading option for reducing emissions to decarbonise sectors of the economy. The report calls on the Government to do two things, and I ask for a debate on them. They are, first, to make sure we release a robust hydrogen strategy in quarter 2 of 2022 and, second, to establish a high-level, cross-government group to develop recommendations to cut the price of renewable electricity so we can produce green hydrogen as cheaply and as quickly as possible. I know that the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is doing a lot of work in this regard. It would be a good idea either to have a general debate on hydrogen at some stage in this House or to ask for the strategy to be produced as soon as possible so we might discuss it.