As the Taoiseach knows, I have warned for years about the potential for an energy crisis and our exposure to elevated prices. Sadly, what I had warned about has come to pass. The current energy crisis has disrupted our economy and driven inflation on a massive scale. It poses real risks to our economy as, like it or not, we are dependent on oil and gas for the functioning of our economy. Even with a massive renewable build, we will still need gas as our backup fuel for electricity.

We still do not know how the Ukrainian war will pan out and we have seen ill-disposed actors sabotage critical gas pipelines like Nord Stream in Germany and Baltic connectors in Finland. Combined with the terrible situation between Israel and Palestine, our current gas storage and supply arrangements look completely inadequate and are in breach of EU legislation on gas storage. Despite my consistent warnings, nothing was done, apart from the Government kicking the can down the road in the hope that none of its bad policies would catch it out before leaving office. In the meantime, prices have skyrocketed and we are paying the price for not having a long-term and resilient energy system. The crisis is hitting all of us, in particular hard-working families, directly in the pocket.

I understand in recent days a number of reports have been finally been published by the Minister, Deputy Ryan. It seems his Department has finally understood that our only option for gas security of supply is a floating storage and regasification terminal. Will the Taoiseach advise us of the Government strategy on this,? Why has it taken the Government, which has highly paid officials and advisers, almost four years to realise that our only option for gas security of supply is a floating storage regasification terminal? When will this piece of critical infrastructure be put in place to ensure our national energy security? Where will the terminal be sited?

As the Taoiseach knows, I have mentioned Cork in recent years in the Dail as a potential site for the floating terminal. What is the competence within our State bodies for the development of a floating storage and regasification terminal? Will the Taoiseach assure me that a terminal company which will lease or purchase the terminal will be Irish owned and controlled?

I thank the Deputy. The future of energy in Ireland is renewable. That is the safest, most secure and cheapest way to provide for our energy needs in the long term. We need renewable energy, backed by interconnection to Britain and Europe, and mass battery storage in Ireland. That transition is very much under way. It is happening all around us, all over the country, such as the wind farms, battery storage in the midlands and the interconnector between Ireland and France. Work is very much under way and that is very much the future.

In the meantime, we will need oil and natural gas. We have good oil storage already, about a 30-day supply if needed. As the Deputy knows, some of that is in Cork. When it comes to natural gas, we have essentially two sources. One is the Corrib gasfield off Mayo, which will run out, and the other comprises the interconnectors between Ireland and the UK. In light of what has happened to interconnectors, gas pipes and telecommunication terminals around Europe in the past year or so, we have had to revisit our policy because we have seen gas pipelines destroyed and damaged, not just in Denmark but also between Estonia and Finland. We believe that reliance on the interconnector from the UK is too big a risk and a risk we have to mitigate.

We have not come down definitively on whether there will be floating or fixed gas storage. That is still open for consideration. We have asked Gas Networks Ireland to do further work in that regard. That will be done over the course of the next six months. It will be expensive, but the cost will be spread over a long period of time in the form of a levy on bills, similar to the one we have for the National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, when it comes to oil, petrol and diesel storage. Whatever we do will be State led. The Government has made that decision. That does not mean that there is not a role to play for the private sector, whether through public-private partnerships or contracting the expertise we need and which we do not have in the State sector, but it will be State led and commissioned.

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, has confirmed that the new facility, which is likely to cost hundreds of millions of euros to build, will be funded by a new levy on consumer gas bills. The Green Party loves taxing the Irish people. It seems to have a fierce habit of that. I presume the Taoiseach will not agree with that. There are already taxes on fuel, as well as a carbon tax. Where is our carbon tax money going to go? Why can it not be put into a facility like this, which I fully agree needs to be built?

I asked for a floating gas terminal and felt it was a necessity. We pleaded with the Minister, Deputy Ryan, who ignored our calls. We felt it could be positioned off the coast of Cork. Where will the terminal be sited? We need to know that today. The Taoiseach said it will be constructed in the next six months. It certainly will, but the Irish taxpayer cannot pick up the tab on this. Irish taxpayers cannot keep picking up the tab for every issue of concern. There are carbon and NORA taxes. What other taxes will the Government put on ESB and gas bills which ordinary people will have to pay? They cannot be hit again.

The Government should use the carbon tax it has imposed on the people. It is mostly hurting the people of rural Ireland. Most parties in the House agreed to it. The floating terminal should be paid for using the carbon tax money that is there already. People should not be hit by another bill on top of the bills and levies they cannot afford to pay.

I thank the Deputy. It is interesting, bordering on comical, that the Deputy who opposed the carbon tax is now calling on us to use the carbon tax-----

Unbelievable.

-----which he opposed to pay for gas storage. It is so absurd I do not think I will go down that road at all. Storage has to be paid for. Nobody is going to store for free a huge amount of gas for us which has to be burned off or brought into the system every couple of months. The proposal is that the user of gas will pay for the storage. That makes sense to me. The Deputy is proposing that it be paid for by a tax he is against. That makes no sense.