In light of the concerns reported recently on the strong possibility of rationing of energy in the coming autumn and winter, is the Government completely satisfied the amount of gas coming into Ireland through the Moffat interconnector is absolutely guaranteed to continue throughout the winter? If not, what contingency plans are in place in the event of any reduction of, or disruption to, supply?

I thank Deputy Stanton for raising this point. On 14 June, the Government approved a package of measures to secure electricity supplies and to help mitigate rising household electricity bills. The ongoing supply of fuel, gas and oil is something that has been discussed at Cabinet level. We are confident the situation is stable at the moment but it is something we must continue to watch. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is certainly keeping the Government and Cabinet abreast of that situation. It is a very volatile environment we are living in, especially right across Europe. We saw what happened very recently with gas supplies being reduced to Germany. It is an absolute priority for us. We as a State need to ensure, and we will continue to ensure, we have energy security within this country.