As we can see, we have a security crisis across Europe, and an energy crisis comes with that. Last week in this House the Tánaiste set out a very positive vision for a clean energy future for Ireland and for Europe, and this is indeed an opportunity for Ireland. He said clearly that the Government wants to develop a hydrogen economy in this country. I think that will require an all-of-government response. Ireland should not be satisfied to be a follower in this exciting new development; we should take the lead. We should not leave it to the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications or the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, to which we might be inclined to leave it. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are all relevant to this huge task we have. Will the Tánaiste set out, acknowledging that this is at an early stage, what he thinks the next steps are?

The Deputy is right that we need a whole-of-government response to this issue. There is a real opportunity here for Ireland to move within a generation from being an energy importer to being an energy exporter using offshore wind, onshore wind and solar to produce electricity, while also using offshore wind to produce hydrogen, a dispatchable fuel that we can use to replace gas and petrol and diesel in some cases. That would give us energy security and price stability. Even if climate change were not happening, the lessons from Ukraine show us how important it is to achieve energy security and price stability.

My Department is keen to get involved, particularly in using the IDA to attract investment into hydrogen and offshore wind. We propose to set up a cross-government task force to deal with offshore wind and hydrogen. It will be led by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications but my Department and the IDA will be very involved.