Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 24 Jan 2024

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 6, lines 24 to 26, to delete all words from and including “insofar” in line 24 down to and including “purposes” in line 26 and substitute “insofar as the activity relates to telecommunications”.

The purpose of this amendment is to insert a saver provision to maintain the existing ministerial consents that were given to Ervia to carry out telecommunications-related activities. Such ministerial consents were previously granted under section 17 of the Gas (Amendment) Act 2000. However, that section is being repealed by section 3(2) of this Bill because its scope is considered too broad. The inclusion of a saver is necessary to ensure the consents previously granted under section 17 of the Act of 2000 remain in place for Ervia and that this telecommunications-related work can continue post integration into Gas Networks Ireland, GNI. On this basis I propose the approval of this amendment.

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 11, line 28, to delete “Maternity Protection Acts 1994 and 2022” and substitute “Maternity Protection Acts 1994 to 2022”.

This amendment corrects a typographical error.

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 12, to delete lines 30 and 31 and substitute the following:

“(ii) by the insertion of the following definitions:

“ ‘Act of 2014’ means the Companies Act 2014;

‘carbon budget’ has the meaning assigned to it in section 1 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (as amended), and means the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions that are permitted during the budget period;

‘climate action plan’ has the meaning assigned to it in section 4(1)(a) of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (as amended), and means the annual plan prepared by the Minister to pursue the national climate objective;

‘emissions’ has the meaning assigned to it in section 1 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (as amended), and means in relation to greenhouse gases, emission of those gases into earth’s atmosphere attributable to industrial, agricultural, energy or other anthropogenic activities in the State;

‘greenhouse gas’ has the meaning assigned to it in section 1 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (as amended), and means—

(a) carbon dioxide,

(b) methane,

(c) nitrous oxide,

(d) hydrofluorocarbons,

(e) perfluorocarbons,

(f) sulphur hexafluoride, or

(g) nitrogen trifluoride;

‘national climate change adaptation framework’ has the meaning assigned to it in section 5 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (as amended), and means the plan prepared by the State which specifies the application of adaptation measures in different sectors and by a local authority in its administrative area;

‘national climate objective’ has the meaning assigned to it in section 3(1) of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (as amended), and means the State’s obligation to reduce the extent of further global warming, to pursue and achieve, by no later than the end of the year 2050, the transition to a climate resilient, biodiversity rich, environmentally sustainable and climate neutral economy;

‘national long term climate action strategy’ has the meaning assigned to it in section 4 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (as amended), and means the long term strategy which specifies the manner in which it is proposed to achieve the national climate objective;

‘sectoral adaptation plan’ has the meaning assigned to it in section 6 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (as amended), and means the plans made by each Minister of the Government for which each such Minister of the Government has responsibility;

‘sectoral emissions ceiling’ has the meaning assigned to it in section 6C of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (as amended).”,”.

As the Ceann Comhairle stated, these amendments are grouped because they are related. This is the focal point of the debate that happened on Committee Stage. Very similar amendments were put forward on Committee Stage. They were not pressed in the understanding that the Minister of State and the Department were going to consider the matters to which they relate. There was a meeting due to be held - it has since come and gone - and we were hopeful that the Minister of State would bring forward amendments like these on Report Stage. He obviously has not done so. As a result, I have a sinking feeling he is not planning to accept the amendments. It will be very bad if that is the case.

What this is about is very simple. It is about changing the mandate of GNI to ensure that it is in line with our climate obligations. It makes no sense at all for the Government to say it is absolutely clear on the necessity of action to avoid climate catastrophe and has a legally binding climate action plan but then does not require State-owned corporations and semi-State bodies to have mandates to act in line with that. This is especially true when we are dealing with the connection of households and businesses to fossil fuel systems. We understand, I assume, that the way to avoid the impending climate catastrophe is to rapidly transition away from fossil fuels. That does not mean connecting more people to gas, which is a fossil fuel; it means weaning people off gas. However, we have a situation whereby GNI is proposing to add 14,600 new domestic connections and 2,629 industrial and commercial connections. Some of those are going to be data centres. The latter, when faced with a moratorium on connection to the electricity network, have turned to direct connection to the gas network. They will not go through the process of burning fossil fuels to generate electricity that is then used in data centres, but will instead burn fossil fuels directly, with the emissions going straight into the atmosphere.

Last year, the Minister, Deputy Ryan, wrote to GNI asking it not to sign any more contracts to connect data centres powered by on-site fossil fuel generation, but the answer from the company was to the effect that it is mandated under the Gas Acts to supply connections requested by third parties. What I am trying to do here, along with Friends of the Earth, others in opposition and the Chair of the committee, who is a member of the Minister of State’s party, is precisely to change the mandate of GNI to ensure the only aim is not being economical and efficient but to act in line with our climate obligations. Recent research by UCC found that in order to meet our carbon budgets, gas demand in 2040 must be reduced by 93% in the power sector, 85% in the residential sector and 67% in enterprise. It is about the gas being used, the generation of carbon dioxide in the here and now, but it is also locking people in. Every new connection is locking people into fossil fuel use, potentially for decades, so this is vital.

I will attempt to pre-empt some of the Minister of State’s responses. I understand why my amendments are all grouped. Because they are, this is the meat of the whole debate. We have an hour and a half for the debate, but this is it right here. We will get one go, the Minister of State will respond and then we will only get three minutes to come back in. This is presumably when the Minister of State will tell us that he is sorry but he cannot do it for this reason or that. I suspect the main reason he will give is that this is a purely technical Bill by means of which we are cleaning things up with GNI and so this is not the place to be doing this. I do not understand that. We are now making amendments to the Gas Acts, so now is the perfect opportunity to direct that GNI should operate in line with our climate targets. It should not be obliged to connect anyone who wants to connect to the grid, it should not be driven just by economic concerns, but by the agreed and legally binding climate action plan, which obviously includes substantial reductions.

Last November, the Minister, Deputy Ryan, in the context of GNI, told the climate action committee:

The future will not be providing fossil gas to an ever expanding network of customers or users ... There is no big future expansion in gas use there. Anyway, the businesses cannot and will not.

As Friends of the Earth has pointed out, the issue is that GNI's current legal functions are entirely premised on such network expansion and increasing gas use. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, can have the best intentions in the world and the best ideas about what we need to be doing but if they set GNI up in a certain way and then do not amend the basis upon which it is set up to say it has to be in line with the climate action plan, then we are just letting it continue, with inertia, to do what it does. There will be requests for connections and GNI will say, "Yes, come and connect to the grid", and we will be locking in more and more fossil fuel usage. It is essential we have State-owned enterprises contributing to the energy transition instead of acting against it. That means ensuring a decline, not an increase, in Ireland's dependence on fossil fuels.

I really hope the Minister of State is going to say "Yes" and that he will take the opportunity to do it, but obviously I fear that is not going to be the case. If that was going to be the case, he would have tabled his own amendments.

I fully support these amendments and thank Deputy Murphy for tabling them. The points are well covered and these issues were raised, not just by me and others in the Opposition but also by the Minister of State's party colleague and Chairman of the climate committee, Deputy Leddin. We have the opportunity again this evening to go over that ground. It is absolutely essential that public bodies are in line with climate law, the climate action plan, carbon budgets and sectoral emissions ceilings, and that is the intent of these amendments. Like Deputy Murphy, however, I can pre-empt some of the response from the Minister of State. I hope I am wrong but if there are arguments, as there were on Committee Stage, on the contents of the EU gas package and their implications, then the Minister of State should spell them out because my assessment and that of others is that there is no contraindication here. There is nothing to prohibit us from agreeing these amendments tonight, including them in the legislation and sending a clear signal of intent as well as a practical measure in terms of the restructuring of GNI.

If the Minister of State is going to make that case, he should spell out the issues in relation to the EU gas package. As was the case during the Committee Stage debate, my sense was that there was broad agreement with the thrust, spirit and intent of the amendments. I ask the Minister of State to spell out how exactly, with details on legislation and timeframe, the Government intends to do what is absolutely necessary, which is to deliver on the objective of reshaping and repurposing GNI. If he does not do that, he cannot give any of us in the Opposition any confidence.

I support this amendment and thank Deputy Murphy for tabling it. The way I look at it, if the Minister of State does not do this, he is actually tying the hands of GNI. He is constraining it, limiting it to very commercial activity and operations and not taking other things into consideration. Now is his opportunity. Bringing the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act through was a huge win for the environment. It was a very significant piece of work the Green Party in government did, in consultation with the Opposition, but it cannot be a stand-alone measure. It has to operate in a legislative framework. There is a whole set of jigsaw pieces of legislation and they all have to be working in sync. This is just an effort to make one of those key pieces of legislation operate in sync with the objectives of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act and the stated objectives of the Government. Now that this Bill is in front of us and the amendment has been moved, it will be a real missed opportunity if the Minister of State does not incorporate it into the legislation. Who knows what is going to happen down the road. Who knows when the next opportunity to make this really important change will arise. I ask the Minister of State to consider it and incorporate it.

The amendments propose to amend the definition of the 2014 Act, which clarifies that the Act of 2014 means the Companies Act 2014, to include various climate policy terminology already provided for in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act of 2015; to add additional obligations into the functions of GNI to factor in national policies on decarbonisation such as the climate action plan and emissions reductions into its operations; and to change the terms and conditions under which applications to the regulator for new connections or expansion of the gas network must be assessed. I thank the Deputy for these suggestions. I appreciate the intention of the amendments but I propose to reject them as the Gas (Amendment) Bill 2023 is a technical Bill which solely provides for the integration of Ervia into GNI and does not provide for any new additional functions or obligations for GNI. It is not the appropriate mechanism to review the functions of GNI in relation to national climate policy.

The context which the Bill provides for was laid out in a memorandum to Government by the Minister for housing. That memo outlined the plan for the development and drafting of a general scheme whose aim was to separate Irish Water from Ervia in 2020. The Government also approved the development and drafting of another general scheme of a separate Bill to facilitate the integration of Ervia into GNI, which is what we are doing today. The Government's approval only provides for the integration of the current activities of Ervia into GNI and does not provide for any new function or activity for the board to engage in.

As Deputies are aware, GNI is a semi-State, public body. Its shares are 100% controlled by Ministers. It is, therefore, subject to the same criteria as other State bodies regarding its climate obligations. GNI in particular is listed as a relevant body under the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, as amended by the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021. The term "relevant body" includes a public body which is defined by reference to the Freedom of Information Act 2014, to which GNI is subject and to which it will continue to be subject with the passage of this Bill. Therefore, because GNI is a relevant body, it performs its functions in a manner which is consistent with the most recently approved climate action plan, the national long-term climate action plan, the national adaptation framework and sectoral adaptation plans, and with the furtherance of the national climate objective, which is to reach net zero by 2050, and the objective of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the effects of climate change in the State. Gas Networks Ireland is already covered by the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act. It is covered for all of those functions and is already obliged to comply with everything from the climate action plan to its own emissions reductions targets and its sectoral emissions ceilings.

The implementation of the European directive on common rules for the internal markets in renewable and natural gases and in hydrogen is a more appropriate legislative vehicle for consideration of the decarbonisation of the gas grid in the context of GNI's role and functions, as provided for in the Gas Act 1976. In particular, the final version of the European gas directive, which was agreed since we last met on Committee Stage, provides for member states to implement measures to phase out natural gas to reach the climate neutrality objectives set out by the EU or for other technical reasons. This directive provides for the development of a clear regulatory framework allowing for the refusal of access and the possible disconnection of network users to attain these policy objectives. Network users can be refused access or can be disconnected if this concerns infrastructure that will be decommissioned in line with the network development plan at transmission level or if decommissioning is envisaged in line with the provisions of the directive. It also notes that at the same time adequate measures should be undertaken to protect network users in such circumstances. It is important the refusal of access and disconnection decisions are subject to objective, transparent and non-discriminatory criteria developed by regulatory authorities.

GNI is required under the current 2009 gas directive, as amended, to publish a ten-year network development plan every two years and it must be submitted to the CRU for approval.

This network development plan is available to the public and is published on the GNI website. The new gas directive updates the requirements involved to include biomethane and hydrogen developments and ensures these are developed in conjunction with the decarbonisation of the gas grid. Furthermore, it is now a requirement for member states to ensure distribution system operators, such as GNI, develop network decommissioning plans when a reduction in gas demand requiring the decommissioning of natural gas distribution networks, or parts of such networks, is expected. Such plans will be developed in close co-operation with hydrogen distribution network operators, distribution system operators for electricity, and district heating and cooling operators, ensuring effective energy system integration and reflecting the reduced use of natural gas for the heating and cooling of buildings where more energy- and cost-efficient alternatives are available. Negotiations on the directive have now concluded. As of 28 November last year, the European Parliament and Council have reached agreement on a final text. The Department has begun scoping out the work required to transpose this directive into Irish legislation.

Another significant development the Deputy is aware of is the publication of the Energy Security in Ireland to 2030 report, which outlines a new strategy to ensure energy security in Ireland for this decade, while ensuring a sustainable transition to a carbon-neutral energy system by 2050. Within this package, there is specific action approved by the Government to review gas connection policy and introduce gas demand flexibility measures. Under the climate action plan 2023, CRU has been assigned as a lead organisation to complete and publish an electricity demand-side strategy and implementation plan. As part of this, CRU is undertaking a review of the processing of new large energy demand connections to the electricity and gas system. The aim of this review is to provide a pathway for new large energy user connections to the electricity and gas systems, which minimises the impact on national carbon emissions while taking into account the capacity of the system in relation to the supply of energy and grid infrastructure.

A number of things are happening. One is that the CRU consultation on new connections to the gas grid is taking place at present. Second, we have to implement and are legally required to transpose this new gas directive which specifically addresses the question of who should be refused access to the gas grid and when we should disconnect people from it. Deputy Murphy said Gas Networks Ireland was premised on increasing gas use, but outlined in its network development plan, which is a legal document that has to be published every two years but that looks ten years forward, is a plan for gas usage to peak in 2025-26 and to reduce continually after that. GNI is in fact planning for a reduction in gas use overall.

What I heard from the Minister of State is that this is technical and this is not a Bill to amend the objectives, but that is what we are trying to do through the amendment. We are trying to make it such a Bill and are taking the opportunity to change its objectives. The Minister of State is telling us not to worry about that because those objectives are already covered. However, will he explain to me how and why GNI responded to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, to say it was mandated under the Gas Act to supply connections to third parties? That was in response to the Minister saying it should not be connecting these data centres directly.

I will quote from a letter from the Climate Change Advisory Council, CCAC, to the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action, dated 16 October 2023, where it is absolutely clear:

On this basis, the Minister for the Environment ... wrote to Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) indicating it would not be appropriate for the organisation to sign any more contracts to connect data centres to the gas network where the data centre would be powered mainly by on-site fossil fuel generation. It is the Council’s understanding that GNI responded to say that it was mandated under the Gas Act to supply connections to third parties.

Is the understanding of the CCAC wrong? Was GNI wrong? What happened here? The Minister of State is telling me not to worry, we have the climate Bill and GNI has to stay in line with it, but GNI is reported to be saying it has a mandate to keep adding more connections to the grid. That is what it is doing in practice as well. It is adding connections and locking more and more people into fossil fuels. Something does not add up. I really do not understand. Even if it were a case of, "Don't worry, it's already covered", that would be fine. There is no harm in changing it and taking a belt and braces approach. Let us make sure GNI, at its heart, has the vision of a transition away from fossil fuels.

I agree with Deputy Murphy. I feel the tune has changed since Committee Stage. At worst, I thought we would hear tonight an acknowledgement of a problem that would be addressed at some stage in the future, and we had hoped to hold the Government to account for that. Instead, we are hearing there is nothing to see here, which is a change of tune. That is deeply concerning for the reasons outlined by Deputy Murphy. In practice, as was spelled out to our committee, the practice is entirely different. It has the potential for very significant implications, not least as it relates to islanded data centres. In light of tonight's debate, there is all the more reason to double down on the need to ensure there is no doubt about these matters and to accept these amendments, lest there be any doubt about the priority role of GNI.

I am not saying this is all covered already. What is outlined in amendment No. 4 is covered already. That amendment seeks that GNI complies with the terms of the climate Act. I am saying GNI is already covered by that. It absolutely is.

GNI is not covered under what is referenced in amendment No. 6, which seeks the right to refuse connections and so on. What is outlined in that amendment is coming in under the gas package. That is what we need to transpose. The changes outlined and the rules as they have been written in amendment No. 6 are not compliant with what we agreed to in the new gas directive. As I said, we have to make sure that if a gas distributor refuses connections, it is doing so in a fair and proportionate way and so on. Many conditions were included in the gas directive. However, I agree we need to legislate in that area. We need to make sure GNI is mandated to refuse connections where those connections would not comply with its climate obligations. I agree that needs to be legislated for. That is what we committed to doing last month as part of the gas package. There are two parts to that gas package. One is the regulation and the other is the directive. The regulation comes into force right away but the directive part will have to be legislated for as national legislation. That should be done as a priority.

I hear what the Minister of State is saying. I now understand the distinction between his opposition to amendments Nos. 4 and 6. However, even in respect of amendment No. 4, it seems GNI has to abide by and is covered by the climate Bill on a very abstract level. If it were an active function, however, it would mean GNI would turn down some connection requests and would not accept everything because its plan is that it needs to get away from fossil fuels.

We should take the opportunity to do this tonight. I would be interested in pursuing further - in fairness the Minister of State did not have the time - the issue of everything that happened regarding the so-called islanded data centre developments. It is a real shame we are not taking that opportunity. We are changing the basis of GNI. We should also be doing that with Coillte and all semi-State organisations to bring to the heart of them not just operating on the basis of what is currently economy and efficiency but what is in line with our climate and biodiversity goals. I will press the amendments. I hope the Chair of our committee will vote for the amendments he brought forward on Committee Stage.

I move amendment No. 4:

In page 12, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following:

"(i) in subsection (1)—

(I) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):

"(a) The Board shall own, operate, develop and maintain a system for the transmission and distribution of natural gas being a system that is carbon budget-aligned, economical and efficient and shall perform its functions in a manner consistent with—

(i) the most recent approved climate action plan,

(ii) the most recent approved national long term climate action strategy,

(iii) the most recent approved national adaptation framework and approved sectoral adaptation plans,

(iv) the furtherance of the national climate objective, and

(v) the objective of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the effects of climate change in the State.",

and

(II) by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (b):

"(c) Nothing in paragraph (a) shall be construed as imposing on the Board, either directly or indirectly, any form of duty or function to promote, advertise or incentivise new connections to transmission or distribution gas systems.",".

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 13, lines 13 to 21, to delete all words from and including "Subject" in line 13 down to and including line 21 and substitute the following:

"Subject to subsection (2), the majority-shareholding Minister may, by order, confer on the Board such function of developing, maintaining and operating telecommunications infrastructure as the majority-shareholding Minister thinks proper and specifies in the order, and any such order may provide for the performance of the function subject to conditions specified in the order and may contain such incidental and supplementary provisions as the majority-shareholding Minister thinks necessary or expedient for giving full effect to the order.".

I move amendment No. 6:

In page 13, between lines 39 and 40, to insert the following:

"(d) in section 10A—

(i) in subsection (4), by the insertion of the following paragraphs after paragraph (h):

"(i) the terms and conditions upon which applications for new connections or expansion of the gas network must be assessed to consider the expected emissions profile of the new connection, and of its contribution to the decarbonisation of Ireland’s economy;

(j) the terms and conditions upon which an application may be refused if it is considered not to be in the public interest to provide additional capacity to meet the requirements sought.",

and

(ii) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (7A):

"(7B) The Board shall be entitled to refuse connection on the grounds of the expected emissions profile, long term carbon emissions or inconsistency with the carbon budget programme or sectoral emissions ceilings as per sections 6A and 6C of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (as amended).",

(e) in section 10B, in subsection (3), by the insertion of the following paragraphs after paragraph (f):

"(g) the terms and conditions upon which new connections or expansion of the gas network may be refused on the grounds of the expected emissions profile, long term carbon emissions or inconsistency with the carbon budget programme or sectoral emissions ceilings as per sections 6A and 6C of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 (as amended),

(h) the terms and conditions on large energy users to facilitate accurate hourly emissions reporting, grid carbon intensity transparency and optimisation of computing loads to maximise use of renewables and minimise carbon emissions, and

(i) on undertakings on organisations operating in the gas sector in the general economic interest, public service obligations which may relate to security, including security of supply, regularity, quality and price of supplies, and environmental protection, including energy efficiency, energy from renewable sources and climate protection.",".

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 17, line 15, after “notice” to insert “in writing”.