energy

Keeping the lights on: Why energy emergency group is looking beyond ‘worst-case scenario’

Ireland is less reliant than some on Russian energy imports – but ESEG, the state’s new energy crisis body, is planning for rationing just in case

O’Connell Bridge in Dublin: how to power Europe’s cities and countries is becoming a concern due to the increasingly precarious energy supply due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Picture: Getty

At one of the first meetings of the state’s new energy emergency body, Martin Fraser, the country’s top civil servant, spelled out the seriousness of the work at hand.

“Consider the worst-case scenario, and whatever that is, plan for worse than that,” he told members of the Energy Security Emergency Group (ESEG).

To understand what the newly formed committee is, just think of it as the equivalent of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet), ...