There is a “very small pool” of climate experts in Ireland who don't have any connections to the Green Party, Eamon Ryan has told Newstalk Breakfast.

The Environment Minister has rejected accusations of cronyism after he appointed two former colleagues to the Climate Change Advisory Council.

Cabinet has approved the appointments of both Professor Morgan D Bazilian, a former advisor to Minister Ryan and Dr Cara Augustenborg, a former Green Party local election candidate, were appointed to the council with no formal public appointment process.

Sinn Féin has accused Minister Ryan of cronyism and suggested both appointees will struggle to hold the Government to account due to their Green Party connections.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Minister Ryan rejected those claims.

“I have been involved in this campaign on climate change for about 30 years now and I probably know or have connections to the vast majority … or a large number of people who have the real skills and expertise in the whole area of how we address climate change,” he said.

“If I was to try and appoint a council that wasn’t people with connections to myself, I think it would be a very small pool. Well, not that small but that would not be a fair restriction because why would those people be excluded?”

Climate Change Advisory Council

He said the council requires a “really broad mix of skills” and insisted it will have no difficulty holding Government to account.

“I think all 15 are people with real credentials and the right mix of experience,” he said.

“I think it was absolutely appointed within the rules of the legislation and approved by an Irish Cabinet and I think they are very well qualified for what they have to do.”

Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance

The Green Party leader also defended the decision to join a new alliance aimed at ending worldwide production of oil and gas, despite the country’s need for natural gas a backup source of power in the coming decades.

Minister Ryan said Ireland is turning its focus to a resource we know it has an abundance of – offshore wind.

“We have been out looking for gas for about 30 years and on about 150 occasions we went out with very expensive drilling wells – we found it three times and I think the prospects of finding any further were very low,” he said.

“What we will do in the ocean is we will switch to offshore wind. That is a resource we know is there for sure and we probably have the largest and one of the best resources in the world.”

Storage

He said a new system for storing the electricity generated offshore will be in use within a decade.

“We will move towards a system where you take that electricity and through a process called electrolysis convert it to hydrogen,” he said. “It is likely that will be in the next decade.

“It is likely that that electricity converted to hydrogen will then start to replace natural gas.

“It is true that in the next two to three decades we have to stop using all fossil fuels. We will make that transition.”