Éamon Ó Cuív presses minister on island travel and hydrogen buses
Éamon Ó Cuív questioned the minister about reopening travel to the islands and urged development of hydrogen buses produced from renewable energy. He pressed for clarity on when family members, holiday homeowners and tourists may return, warned of tourism losses for attractions such as Kaimur Abbey, and called for an all‑Ireland approach to hydrogen public transport.
Island travel and reopening dates
He noted the government's reopening announcement made no mention of travel to the islands, which is still scheduled singularly for the 8th of August. He said family members living on the mainland have no permission to return and that islanders want to find out when family visits, holiday home owners and tourists may go there.
Tourism and attraction viability
He joined calls expressing concern for tourist attractions during staycations, citing Kaimur Abbey as an example. He warned that massive overheads and reduced visitor numbers could make it uneconomic for some sites to open this year.
Hydrogen buses and renewable transition
On the energy transition, he argued that while electricity has infrastructure challenges, an alternative is indirect electricity using surplus renewable energy - hydrogen. He said companies in Ballymina are exploring hydrogen buses and hydrogen production locally, and urged talks on an all‑Ireland approach to replacing public bus vehicles with hydrogen buses produced from renewable electricity. He asserted that hydrogen's output is water and therefore produces no carbon emissions.
Appeal to the minister and timing
He asked the minister to look at the hydrogen buses proposal and the broader transition opportunity for the island, stressing the need for action. He concluded by noting he had exceeded his allotted time.
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Minister, I'm going to try to get in as much as I can in the two minutes and seven seconds I've left. The first question is this. Amazingly, last Friday, the government made a big announcement about opening up, about bringing things forward. Not a mention about travel to the islands, which is still scheduled singularly for the 8th of August. Now, there are family members who live in the mainland and want to go home. They have no permission to do so. Minister, can you tell us when the islands will be open? For family members to go back to their families, for holiday home owners who own holiday homes on the islands to go there, and for tourists to go there. The islanders want to find out. I think it's hugely remiss a view of Minister of Transport not to tell us. The second thing is I'd like to join in the calls in terms of tourist attractions. We're told that people will be doing staycations, so there's a big danger that it would not be economic, for example, for Kaimur Abbey to open this year. You were there recently. Big opening. Massive overheads are running into place. Without the visitor numbers which we're not going to get this year, it's very uneconomic to open for small numbers. I'd like to talk about the transition. Now, when we talk about transition, people often talk about electricity, but electricity is fine. But the problem is this. It takes a huge amount of infrastructure. There's actually a simpler answer. It's indirect electricity using surplus energy. Surplus renewable energy, where with electricity you're using whatever's on the grid at the time. And that is hydrogen. And I understand that a company on this island, up in Ballymina, is looking at producing hydrogen buses. And another company is looking at actually producing the hydrogen itself, in the same part of the world. Have them in talks about looking at an all-Ireland approach to replacing all of the bus vehicles, public bus vehicles on the island, by hydrogen buses. Produced from renewable electricity. Because you know the emissions is, you take the H2O and you add the O and you get H2O, which is water, and therefore you don't get any carbon emissions. It is a huge opportunity for this island to act together. I think, Minister, that issue needs to be looked at. Unfortunately, I've gone 12 seconds over my time. So, thank you very much.
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