Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan has come under fire in the Dáil for his department's failure to apply for EU funding aimed at reducing emissions and dependence on Russian fossil fuels through the development of biomethane production.

Questioning Minister Ryan on the matter, Michael McNamara TD noted how the European Commission earlier this year introduced the REPowerEU scheme, the first tranche of which was to fund countries to improve their biomethane sector.

Deputy McNamara asked the minister if they had applied to the fund to develop the biomethane sector, to which the Minister responded: “I don’t believe we did, but I'll have to check that and make sure that that fact is correct.”

No funding

Despite failing to put any tangible funding in place to develop the sector, Minister Ryan believes biomethane is going to be part of the country’s low-carbon transition.

“We agreed in the sectoral emissions ceilings this summer that we would develop 5.7TWh of biomethane, largely from the agricultural sector,” he said.

However, Ireland’s failure to apply to the scheme undermines ongoing efforts to decarbonise the agri-food sector and reduce overall emissions across the Irish economy.

Sustainable energy

It also flies in the face of this Government’s stated ambition to move towards sustainable energy and also to domestic alternatives to imported gas, according to Deputy McNamara.

“I am aware of projects being developed by the private energy sector in conjunction with farmers’ groups.

"The failure to apply for funding will come as a shock and disappointment to them given the potential to help alleviate the energy crisis in our state and the need to reduce methane emissions in agriculture,” concluded Deputy McNamara.

Minister Ryan has said that he would not rule out further funding from Europe for this development.