Will the Minister recognise this part of the challenge? We know that by 2050, we have to stop using fossil fuels. The Government is going to commit to it and the Taoiseach already said so in an answer to a question I put to him last week. We know that if we are to do that and stop runaway dangerous climate change, which will ruin everyone's future, we have to keep four fifths of the known fossil fuel reserves - that is, reserves that have been discovered - in the ground. We know that if that is the case, the last thing we should be doing is looking for more oil and gas, in particular in hazardous and expensive environments like the deep Atlantic. We know that we have gone out about 160 times and found three pockets of gas in the last 30 to 40 years of looking, using up massive amounts of speculative money in that process. We know that even if we found something far out on the Porcupine, several hundred kilometres away from our shore, the likelihood of it being landed on our shores is minimal. The distances are so great that it would be cheaper, easier and less contentious to ship it into some refinery harbour elsewhere. It, therefore, gives us no real security.

We know that we have huge potential if we put all the civil servants who are working on this together with all that Irish Stock Exchange money and speculative engineering into the development of offshore wind energy projects, where we have massive comparative competitive advantage, we really could provide an energy power supply for the future. The technology is certain, the economics are clear and this makes sense.

Instead, the Government is fixated on still looking for oil and gas. I refer to the Government decision this week, which was scandalous in its disregard for this House. After a year and half of using every trick in the book to delay the climate emergency Bill, at the last minute, just before we were to go into Committee Stage to debate these questions, it reversed its decision of 15 months ago that we did not need a money order as it did not have fiscal implications. At the last minute, having tried every trick to block the Bill, it said that we will not even debate the issue.

We need to work together to rise to this climate challenge because, as the Minister said, the scale of the challenge is beyond compare. I would love not to be debating this issue but rather be discussing, as Deputy Howlin just did, the intricate details of how we could improve our energy efficiency and protect people through Just Transition.

We must consider first things first. In this climate challenge, one cannot be taken seriously if one is still looking for oil and gas. Can the Minister explain to me in simple language why he is burning Fine Gael's reputation for care on climate in the approach he is taking to this issue?

First, I can assure the Deputy that we will be taking the actions necessary to achieve the net zero target of 2050 and will deliver on our obligations in 2030. The only way that we can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels is by reducing the 84% current dependence. We use only 16% renewables. The rest is coming from fossil fuels. We need to develop real policies that will see a shift in our dependence on fossil fuels, in electricity, transport, heat and in all those other sectors that use them. I have committed to 70% renewables for electricity. That will need huge changes in access, for example, for offshore wind energy to the grid. We will be making the necessary legislative, consenting and support changes required to achieve this.

Let us be absolutely honest with people. Preventing new domestic sources of gas being found will not reduce our greenhouse emissions by 1 g. That is the reality. All it will do is that it will change our dependence on domestic sourced gas to dependence on overseas gas or overseas oil. The impact of reduced exploration, if it is to be achieved in higher oil prices, which I presume is the Deputy's objective, will mean that we will be paying more to sheiks in Saudi Arabia or oligarchs in Russia. We have other tools to bring up the price of fossil fuels and influence the decisions that people make through a carbon price. If we apply a carbon price, the revenue from that money will come back to the Exchequer to be used to do the things Deputy Howlin pointed out that we need to do. We have methods to address this, through both incentives to people to change and to develop the technologies and strategies that are necessary.

It is worth bearing in mind that the Citizens' Assembly did not recommend that this be adopted and it was not one of its recommendations. It is not in the Oireachtas committee's report. It is not in those documents for a good reason. We need real policies to change this. The only countries which have taken the position Deputy Eamon Ryan is advocating for Ireland are France, with its huge nuclear resource, and New Zealand, with its huge geothermal and hydro resources. We do not have those resources. We are 84% dependent on fossil fuels and, therefore, have to develop a pathway that is consistent with the challenges we face. In the short to medium term, it is best that while we remain highly dependent on fossil fuels, we should minimise our dependence on imported resources.

Where we can supplement the resources coming from the Corrib field, it would be a good outcome to do so. As the Deputy correctly states, we will be moving away from fossil fuels in the long term. It is all about picking the interventions that impose the least burden on the community now and open up the greatest opportunity. That is the approach I will be taking.

Our equivalent to French nuclear power or New Zealand hydropower is offshore wind energy. We have some of the strongest winds in the world and the technology is there to harness this energy and export over a distance. I am very glad that the Taoiseach signed a contract with the French in respect of an interconnector in recent days. That is how we can ship energy in. We will be selling the French wind-generated energy and occasionally we will get French nuclear-generated energy in return. We cannot decide which electron is which. Our way forward is to use our deep Atlantic waters as an energy sources for the rest of Europe, at scale. I do not believe that any greater security is brought to this country by searching for more oil and gas. The Minister did not answer my fundamental question as to how doing so provides greater energy security. The reality is that we are in a global, fungible market for oil and gas. Oil has always been traded this way since the first oil crisis in the 1970s. Gas has become so since the Russian gas crisis in 2008. Europe has changed all the rules in order to ensure there is security in both of those markets. Oil does not come with an Irish flag or any other flag attached; it is sold in an internationally-traded market and shipped around the world. All we would be doing by going out looking for more of it is adding to a store of oil that is going to burn our planet.

The Minister to respond. This is not a Second Stage debate.

We must deal with the politics around this and stop the problem at source. The Government must stop putting all the emphasis and blame on the individual, which is what it is doing.

I do not disagree with the Deputy that there is great opportunity for Ireland in the context of generating offshore wind and wave energy. However, the reality is that offshore facilities offer less than 1% of our renewable sources. It is the sector that needs to be developed in the coming years. We have the ambition that by 2030 we will have 70% of our power generated from renewable sources. However, when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine, we still need alternatives and back-up. Until we have identified other sources that can be introduced into our network on a cost-effective basis, the back-up remains gas opportunity. Ireland is not on the verge of tipping from 84% dependence on fossil fuels to 15% or anything like it. We have a long, slow journey to make. We have to support people to make those changes. Pretending that there is a magic bullet or that by stopping exploration suddenly Irish people would not be burning coal, oil or gas is an illusion. It will not change the reality facing the Government or communities. People are too dependent on these fuels and we have to help them break that dependency.