I wish to ask the Tánaiste about comments by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Ryan, on the possibility of the power stations at Shannonbridge and Lanesborough playing a role in generating emergency electricity in the coming years. This begs the question, given the national grid was already struggling last year, of whether consideration was given to the impact on energy supply of shutting down the Shannonbridge and Lanesborough power stations. The Tánaiste will be aware workers in counties such as Roscommon and Galway lost their livelihoods overnight. Those jobs have not been replaced. They and their communities really feel like they are collateral damage in the move from brown energy to green energy. To add insult to injury, peat production in Ireland has been stopped but peat is now being imported at record levels, with almost 40,000 tonnes, to the value of €6.7 million, having been imported in just the first seven months of this year.

Will the Tánaiste explain to workers who have been laid off in Shannonbridge and Lanesborough why it was necessary to shut down peat-fired power stations almost overnight but tens of thousands of tonnes of peat are now being imported? Will he tell those workers how much emissions are being saved by transporting peat thousands of miles rather than just down the road?

The power stations at Lanesborough and Shannonbridge were not closed as a consequence of a Government decision. It is important to emphasise that. I know the Deputy is aware of it already. These were decisions by An Bord Pleanála and the courts. What the ESB wanted to do and what the Government wanted it to do was to convert those stations to biomass, such that they would use a mix of peat and biomass and then biomass into the future, which would be a dispatchable form of renewable energy but, unfortunately, for environmental reasons that was shot down by An Bord Pleanála and that is why it did not proceed. People can argue about whether that was the right decision, but it is the decision that was made and it was definitely not a decision of the Government.

I spoke to the new chief executive officer of the ESB yesterday, especially about Lanesborough because I visited Longford last week. The ESB is considering several options for the Lanesborough site, one of which involves using it as a battery electricity plant. One of the things that can now be done in the context of wind energy is that surplus wind produced on the grid can then be stored in batteries and then dispatched as needed. That is one of the options being considered for Lanesborough. It would be a new generation power station, if you like.