Ryan on Energy!11 Jun 2025 12:19
[ The debate: Should the State develop a terminal for liquefied natural gas? Opens in new window ]
Under the third trilemma constraint – which is to make energy affordable – the LNG option again falls far short. The Government recently stated it would cost €300 million, but the bill would likely be a multiple of this. That cost is going to go on our electricity bills and in all likelihood will lead to a continued dependence on gas, which is the main reason why our electricity prices are so high.
We need to get prices down, not just to protect our consumer and industries, but also to accelerate the clean energy transition. Cheaper electricity means lower running costs for electric vehicles and heat pumps, the workhorses of our clean energy future. By using flexible pricing and our nationwide network of smart meters, new battery storage systems can be ramped up and down. This will reduce the curtailment of wind and solar power and we can get into a virtuous circle, where power becomes cheaper, cleaner and more secure.
It will not be easy for the Government to change course, but that is what it must do. And it can do so, because no locations have been chosen, no planning application has been made, no contracts signed. The Government should engage with the environmental movement and ask the Just Transition Commission and the Climate Change Advisory Council to carry out a detailed public consultation which considers all our options and associated costs and reports by the end of the year.
The clean energy revolution is evolving so quickly that even recent energy modelling and assumptions need to be reviewed. Rather than paying for outdated and polluting gas infrastructure, we should invest in cleaner, more affordable and more secure alternatives instead.
In the Times Ryan calls for another report by Christmas this year! Can you believe it?? He also says elsewhere in this article that we must trust our (good) neighbours, the UK. He means of course ' for our security'. His idiocy continues unabated since his forced retirement. it is to be hoped that the present government has the balls to take correct proper decisions before the recess.