The Government committed in 2019 to raising the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources from 30% to 70% by 2030. We all know that wind and solar generation are the best way to reduce emissions with conventional fossil fuel plant playing an important role for many years to come by providing backup and spare capacity as we move from fossil fuels to a cleaner future. I support calls from the Cork Chamber of Commerce on Monday last for Cork Harbour to be identified as the gateway to transformative changes in Europe's transition to renewable energy. The chamber has called for urgent Government policy to unleash floating offshore wind potential.

In January of this year, EirGrid declared an amber alert for Ireland as the electrical supply system came under sustained pressure to meet high demand and record levels of consumption that placed our national grid under threat.

EirGrid stated that the record for peak demand was broken twice in January alone. This is the first time this has happened. Technical failures at Moneypoint, issues at Whitegate and Tarbert power stations, plus a drop in wind generation meant that for a time we came close to the lights going out in this country. The Government started yet another Government review of energy security in December, a process which is costing the Irish taxpayer €250,000. The Government says the report will not be ready for an entire year - how much information does the Government need when its own agency charged with managing supply is issuing amber alerts to the public? When the Government came to power it stopped the granting of new licences for gas, which I have serious concerns with. We are simply committing to importing all our energy instead of producing any of it ourselves. Every single Government agency - Gas Networks Ireland, GNI, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI and EirGrid - is saying our demand for gas will continue for many years. When will we have renewable energy? The Tánaiste knows it will take a minimum of ten years to produce any wind farms at the scale we need to replace the Corrib or Kinsale fields. What is the Government doing to ensure Ireland has security of energy supply for our homes, hospitals, schools and businesses? What if there had been a blackout on even one of those two days in January when we had amber alerts for Ireland? Will the Tánaiste confirm that the ban in the programme for Government does not affect the existing licences issued by the State, that they will be honoured and exploration allowed to proceed? It is important that Ireland be allowed continue the past successes we have seen at the Kinsale area gas fields which ceased production after 44 years and at Corrib, now the only producing offshore gas field in Ireland.

I can confirm that the ban on new oil and gas exploration licences does not apply to existing licences or concessions, only to new ones. The ban on gas exploration was announced by me, as Taoiseach, about a year or two ago. We are now going to legislate to ban exploration for oil and gas but existing licences and concessions will still be honoured. However, that is not the way of the future. I think we all appreciate that investment in oil and gas infrastructure is expensive and does not make sense if the plan is to move away from fossil fuels over the next few decades. That is why the Government is really ambitious about renewable energy, including offshore and onshore wind as well as other technologies. By expanding them dramatically we can reduce greenhouse gases and imports of coal, oil and gas and we can also become an electricity exporter. We currently do this on occasion but we want to do this much more.

As for the kinds of things the Government is doing, it has doubled the ESB's borrowing limit from €6 billion to €12 billion. That work is currently under way and will allow the ESB to borrow on the markets and invest big time in wind energy. Second, we are working hard to get a new marine planning law through because one of the biggest problems we have when it comes to offshore wind is a very complicated planning consent procedure to bring the wind power ashore. It is really out of date and needs to be updated. Those are the two things the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is working on with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. They are trying to get that done in the next couple of weeks or months.

I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. Is he aware that there is a potential carbon-neutral development proposed off Barryroe in west Cork? There is the potential to develop a gas field which is not only capable of continuing the supply we currently have from the Corrib field but is also capable of delivering a unique carbon capture and storage facility in County Cork, which could make us leaders in carbon reduction. The Barryroe site and its development could create jobs similar to the Corrib site, which created more than 1,200 for people in the area. These jobs were in harbours, villages, hotels and shops in the local area. How can the Government simply discount that potential for County Cork and for the south west of Ireland? Several weeks ago we spoke about investment in the area and there is a viable offering with a capital investment of €3 billion, which has been marginalised because of political posturing.

With the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, Ireland is now more reliant on imported energy than ever before. Energy independence is further from our reach and the recent policy changes have severely curtailed our ability to develop indigenous natural energy resources that offer lower greenhouse gas emissions and greater energy security than the imposed sources on which we are increasingly reliant. The reliance is only one issue. Pricing will become a bigger one for families and businesses across Ireland as we become more marginalised in relation to our energy. There is the potential to have this Barryroe field up and running in a very short space of time if co-operation by the Government is forthcoming and everybody works together. This will be a game changer nationally and in south-west Cork. Will the Tánaiste ensure this happens? We cannot continue to import when we have it at our own doorstep.

I have heard about and read about the Barryroe project but do not know the details. If the Deputy wants to pass them on to me I will certainly take a look at them and see if the suggestion he has made that it could be carbon-neutral stacks up. If it does it is something to which we would have to give good consideration. I do not know that, however, but if he wants to pass on more information, I would be happy to take a look at it and talk to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, about it.

There is one thing we need to appreciate about price stability and price certainty. If we can make the decisive shift, the decisive move, towards renewable energy and renewable electricity in particular, that will give us more price security and price stability than anything else. This is because the price of oil, gas and coal can fluctuate very dramatically. The price of wind, solar and other renewable energy sources is pretty stable so if we can actually get to the point where we can produce enough renewable energy, that will gives us better price security than the current situation whereby oil and gas prices can quadruple or halve in the space of just a few weeks or months.