Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 December 2025
179. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment to respond to reports of Government plans for six-month lockdowns if subsea cables are hit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [72290/25]
View answerThe National Risk Assessment (NRA) 2023, prepared by the Minster for Defence in conjunction with the Office of Emergency Planning, specifically highlighted an elevated risk to energy infrastructure and singled out an attack on gas interconnectors between Ireland and the UK as a worst-case scenario. This assessment was influenced by incidents elsewhere at that time. My Department has responsibility for this risk and must ensure that mitigations are in place to reduce risk and highlight the need to protect the system against its occurrence.
On 3 December 2024, Exercise Cathal took place in the National Emergency Coordination Centre (NECC). The table-top exercise was led by my Department and tested the whole of government response to a prolonged gas outage in Ireland as a result of the two gas interconnectors being compromised.
While the implications of such a scenario are very significant, and it is likely that repair could take in the order of four to six months, weather dependent, a "six month lockdown" as referenced by the Deputy is not part of the response plans.
The learnings and next steps from the Exercise were presented to the Government Task Force (GTF) on Emergency Planning on 11 March 2025.
Since Exercise Cathal, the Government has progressed the establishment of a Strategic Emergency Gas Reserve which will act as a key mitigation against this risk. Protection of critical infrastructure, including subsea cables and pipelines, falls within the area of national security and as such it would be inappropriate to provide any further detail in that regard.
The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) oversees the overarching emergency plans and works in conjunction with my Department in this regard. ESB Networks, EirGrid and Gas Networks Ireland have robust procedures in place, such as the Natural Gas Emergency Plan (NGEP), which is publicly available. These agencies regularly participate in simulation exercises to test a range of potential scenarios.
