I want to raise with the Tánaiste the provision of the Shannon liquefied natural gas, LNG, terminal on the Ballylongford Landbank on the Shannon Estuary. A planning application is being processed at present by An Bord Pleanála. We need this terminal to have energy security into the future. We are leaving ourselves very exposed - given the current situation in Ukraine - importing coal from Russia and Europe importing 30% of its gas from Russia. We see now what this is doing to our fertiliser costs. Wind turbines are fine, but no good when the wind does not blow such as last summer, which was almost totally windless. In Europe, all countries touching the sea have LNG terminals, for example, Portugal, Spain and Holland. Even Malta has an LNG terminal.

The Corrib gas field does not have that much more left. Moneypoint, gladly, is going full belt, but the coal to keep those fires burning is coming from Russia. Where are we with that source now given the conflict between Europe and Russia? Anyway, gas is cleaner than coal.

We have eight gas-burning stations in the country when they are working but we need gas to keep them going. We will need gas for at least 30 or 40 years. We need to have our own terminal so that we have the option of buying gas from other countries, such as the US, which would be inclined to sell it to us.

Now we have the totally reckless act by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, who, I see, has disappeared, who has made a submission to An Bord Pleanála against the Shannon LNG application. I believe that this is a misuse and abuse of the Minister's powers as he has demeaned the position of Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. Deputy Eamon Ryan is trying to sabotage one of our options of energy security. I believe that part of the job he is supposed to be doing as Minister is to ensure that we do not run out of electricity. I believe that Deputy Eamon Ryan's objection is ethically and morally wrong and in total contradiction of his portfolio. I am calling for an investigation into what the Minister has done.

The Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan, stated on Radio Kerry that he was in favour of Shannon LNG yet the Tánaiste has stated he will not support it, but that he will not block it either.

The Taoiseach has gone back on his word to the people of north Kerry when he promised that he would support Shannon LNG while canvassing with the Minister for Education, Deputy Norma Foley, in the last general election. He has gone with the wind. He believes in wind energy only now.

They closed down Bord na Móna, our own independent energy source, and will not support Shannon LNG. Are they intent on leading us into the dark? It is totally unacceptable to be exposing the country to the lights going off. We have very few options and we do need to get gas from other sources like the United States.

The lights are not going to go off. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications has signed off on the commissioning and construction of nine new gas plants in Ireland in the coming years. We acknowledge that natural gas is a transition fuel that we are going to need over the next 20 or 30 years while we decarbonise the country and the economy. If the crisis and the war in Ukraine do anything, they expose once again our vulnerability to fossil fuel dependence. Even if there was no climate crisis, we can see now more than ever how vulnerable we are and how dependent we are on oil, gas and coal that does not come from here or even from western Europe;it comes from places like Russia, the Gulf region in the Middle East and South America. It is not right that we as a country should be so dependent on fossil fuels. Even if it was not for the climate crisis, for economic and security reasons, we need to wean ourselves off our dependence on fossil fuels.

As the Deputy said, there is a planning application for an LNG terminal in Tarbert in north Kerry. I am familiar with that project, which is currently at the planning permission stage. It is not supported by the Government but if it gets planning permission and if the company that has applied for planning permission is able to fund it, then it will be in a position to build it, but I do not think that is the right investment for that site. This is an area that is close to the mouth of the Shannon Estuary. It is very close to our offshore wind resources in the west, and it is very close to the national grid, which is plugged into Moneypoint and Tarbert. What I would like to see happen there over the next ten years is the development of offshore wind. The wind would be brought ashore and if electricity is needed, it can be plugged into the grid and used to power our homes, factories, farms and businesses and when it is not needed, it can be turned into hydrogen. It can also be turned into fertiliser as well. This is the future. It is using that offshore wind resource for electricity, for hydrogen as a replacement to natural gas and for green and sustainable fertilisers. Those kinds of investments that are potentially happening in north Kerry should not be seen as five- or ten-year investments; they should be seen as a 30-year investment. In my view, the right investment is not LNG; it is LHG, liquid hydrogen gas. That is what we need on that site.

All those ideals are fine. It is like live horse, and you will get grass. The Tánaiste talked about ten years down the road, but what are we going to do in the meantime? I am in favour of wind turbines in the right place, not near houses. Like everything, there are objections to them, and I support the people who object to wind turbines near their houses, but the wind does not blow all the time and we cannot store the energy that is created by the wind. It is very clear to everyone that since Bord na Móna was closed down by the Government the price of electricity has gone mad. We cannot depend on wind energy for the constant supply of electricity. We cannot depend on Russia for coal and gas and now the Government does not want gas to come in from America or other places. What does it want to do? Is the Government setting us up to leave us without any electricity? When it closed down Bord na Móna, it did not provide us with any other option, only to import gas and coal from Russia. That is what we are doing.

Thankfully, we do not import very much gas at all from Russia. Roughly half our gas supplies come from our own source north of Mayo and the other half comes from the UK, mainly via Qatar and the North Sea. Thankfully, we are not particularly dependent on Russian gas in this country, but obviously if the gas were to stop flowing into eastern Europe, that would have an effect on the price and that is very likely in the period ahead.

I know the site in Tarbert in north Kerry well. At the time, I remember meeting with Hess when it was the developer ten or 15 years ago. Whatever happens in Tarbert, it will be a ten- or 20-year process. It takes time to build a terminal or facility. I honestly do not believe that a natural gas terminal is the right solution for that site. The site should be used for LHG.

What the Deputy said is true. The problem with wind power is it is not dispatchable. The wind blows when the wind blows and that might not be the time when we need the energy. That is the problem with wind; we cannot store it and it is not dispatchable. The good thing is that there is a solution. Because of technological developments, we can now store wind power either in the form of a battery or as hydrogen. Some of the plants in the midlands that the Deputy mentioned will be transformed into battery storage hubs as they move away from peat to battery power. The solution to the problem with wind whereby it cannot be stored or dispatched is hydrogen. When the wind is blowing and we do not have a demand for energy, we can turn that wind energy into hydrogen, a fuel that can be used in the way we use natural gas now. That is the investment that should be happening on that site. That is the future thinking. That is where the jobs are going to be. That is where the economic development is going to be and that is the kind of project I want to support on that site.

In the meantime, we are exposed.