Bríd Smith demands CO2 report on 450MW emergency generators

When you read the section it gets as far as to Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 and then adds on to the extent that they consider practical taking particular account of the said exceptional circumstances and urgent and compelling necessity and I think already this act is given a huge amount of leeway and power to the minister and this is pushing it a bit if you don't mind me saying so and really what's happening here is that the party the Green Party and the government are tearing up the Planning and Development Act and gutting the Climate and Low Carbon Development Act by trying to bring in this clause so we want to see some constraints even if they are nominal and to have regard to certain things that are effectively being cast aside in the rush to get these gas fire generations through to keep up the data centres and keep them humming Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Deputy, for the setting of proposed amendment and I agree with you, the Climate Action Act and the provisions therein for public bodies have to be followed in an act which is consistent with the latest climate action plan and that's something very important that I absolutely agree with. This particular legislation was inserted on the advice of the Attorney General in response to recent decisions that could have an impact on the delivery of this much needed electricity generation infrastructure and it's not a chance that I was willing to take that this could be subject to legal challenge which would see it in judicial review proceedings or other mechanisms which would mean we wouldn't be able to deliver it in the time that we need to do. And whilst I have every intention of acting in a manner consistent with the Climate Action Plan, I will do so in a practical way having regard to the seriousness of the current situation and the compelling necessity to deliver these projects. The provisions as proposed merely provide clarity as to what will feed into that decision and as I said are devised on the advice of the Attorney General to protect it from further delays which is the last thing we need. N front ofся the President, it will do so. Thank you very much. So mantelion right in front of me. ND andking for мел and away. So the question is that section 10 stand part of the bill. Agreed. Okay. Agreed. welcoming. Moving on to section 11, and amendment by Aithiachtha O'Rourke is out of order. So the question is that section 11 is done part of the bill. Is that agreed? Agreed. Moving on to section 12, and we have two amendments in relation to section 12. Aithiachtha Smith, Murphy, Kenny, Boyd Barrett, amendment 8, that a new section be there inserted. This is basically just asking for a report, but it is an important report. As we get some measurement on the CO2 emissions from the 450 megawatts of temporary emergency electricity generation plant, and provide that report as soon as practical, detailing the actual CO2 emissions, whatever length of years that they are there. Now, you would probably say to me this is unnecessary, as all emissions will be counted, but I think that we need to have these counted for separately, and to know what exactly is the damage we are doing here. Because otherwise we are doing this in a vacuum, it really needs to be measured out, and we need to know that it is not going to be used as part of the carbon trading scheme within the EU. Maybe you could clarify that, but also it is a simple request for a report on the level of emissions, CO2 emissions, that will emanate from this particular extraordinary project. Thank you very much, deputies, and I appreciate their concerns with respect to the impact on the environment, particularly on CO2 emissions. But I do consider the proposed amendment to be unnecessary, however, and the potential restrictive, given its construction. I have provided sufficient latitude in the bill as to the timings of the alternative assessments that will be required, as it is likely, further to the guidance published by the Commission, on Article 2.4 of the Directive, that the assessments will be carried out in a phased manner, and consequently it would be preferable not to require specific reports at specific times, and unnecessarily restrict the next steps in the process. There will be environmental assessments and impacts on air quality, and climate will be assessed. I would note, however, that these units will only be used occasionally during times of peak demand, coinciding with low wind and interconnector availability, so they are not expected to have a significant impact on our carbon emissions. In addition, the units are likely more efficient and operate to a higher emission standard than older fossil fuel generators in the system currently. So it is possible that they may have a slightly positive benefit on carbon emissions versus the status quo, although that is something that needs to be assessed by the relevant competent authority. While I do consider the impact on climate and CO emissions to be important considerations in any new development, the overarching interest in this case is served best by providing the most flexibility in the type and timings of the assessments, and therefore I would be rejecting this amendment. Just on that last point, because I think it is important, a low carbon trajectory for electricity will require us to back up fossil fuel for the next decade, switching post that into hydrogen and other low carbon, or hydrogen zero carbon gas system. But any assessment of how we meet our renewables targets, how we meet our climate targets, any accurate assessment of that would show you do need this sort of backup power generation. So I believe it is in compliance completely with both our climate plans and with the emissions reductions trajectory we are set on. Thank you very much. Deputy? No? Okay. Deputy Smith? Are you pressing that the new section be there inserted? I am. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.