Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As Cathaoirleach of the committee, I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to lead out on this important debate, and the Business Committee for taking a positive approach and allowing it onto the agenda, which is timely and important.

I express my thanks to my fellow members of the committee who worked diligently to produce this report. The collaborative and considered approach we took to our engagement is reflected in this report. The committee, when drafting its annual work programme, identified this topic as one of particular interest and importance in each of the past two years and the topic of offshore renewable energy remains a focus for the committee, as we seek to achieve our energy and climate goals.

I acknowledge the role of the secretariat in the preparation of this report, which I recommend to the House. I ask the Government not only to give it and its nine recommendations serious consideration, but also to act on its recommendations. The report was compiled over the course of 2022 and remains a key focus to the ongoing work of the committee, including most recently on Thursday, 25 April, when the committee undertook a travel episode to Cork Harbour to examine the potential of offshore wind.

Ireland remains committed to achieving our ambitious target of having 80% of our electricity generated from renewable resources by 2030, with 5 GW coming from offshore wind. Offshore and renewable energy is a cross-departmental goal. I very pleased with the report. In June 2022, we invited representatives from Wind Energy Ireland and Green Rebel to speak to the committee. In September 2022, a committee delegation travelled to Belfast Harbour. I express my gratitude to all of the officials and MLAs who engaged with us in such a constructive way. The committee travelled to further understand the importance of offshore renewable wind and to examine the issue in person with officials.

In December 2022, the committee undertook engagement with Bord na Móna via a written submission to the committee. In reaching out to stakeholders to gain diverse perspectives on offshore renewable energy, the written submissions and the views of witnesses provided the committee with an insight into several areas where they deemed it was most important to make improvements. There is significant capacity for transformation to clean, sustainable and renewable energy.

On 17 April this year, the committee engaged in a public session with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on its report, Powering Prosperity – Ireland's Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy. As I stated, on 25 April, a delegation from the joint committee undertook a visit to Cork Harbour. Green energy remains a focus for everyone, and the topic of offshore renewable energy is a key focus for the committee to examine in order to support the advancement and development of offshore wind energy and Ireland's ports.

The trips to Belfast and Cork harbours allowed the committee to develop its understanding of offshore renewable energy, informed the committee's view on future development opportunities around the coast of Ireland and facilitated an examination of the impact and costs of developing an offshore wind energy port. The committee thanks the officials of both harbours for facilitating both visits.

Ports have two key roles in supporting offshore wind energy. They can serve as an operations and maintenance base for an offshore wind farm. Larger ports with extensive infrastructure can provide construction or marshalling services. Several Irish harbours are suitable as operations and maintenance bases. Each base translates to approximately 80 full-time jobs and is normally accompanied by extensive investment in local services and port infrastructure.

Ireland is particularly well placed, especially around the west coast, to avail of wind energy. The opportunity to harness this resource can have a positive impact on achieving our climate action goals. The committee has heard from both officials and stakeholders about tapping into Ireland's potential for offshore energy. As an island, we have plenty of coastline. We also have plenty of wind. Offshore wind farms will ensure Ireland has a secure, clean source of energy.

We are living in a climate emergency and we must act now to save our planet and our communities. Climate change is causing more and more extreme weather events - flooding cities, burning forests and hills and devastating communities. Renewable energy is key to reducing greenhouse gases and tackling climate change. Offshore wind will help to build a cleaner future. It is a key component in Ireland's energy future. It is a giant opportunity for jobs, Irish businesses, research and development, and communities all across Ireland. However, the potential for offshore wind remains challenged by planning issues, investment gaps, job creation, skills shortages, education skills and recruitment issues. Offshore wind will require co-ordinated planning for training within the renewable energy sector through partnerships between Government, industry, and training providers.

The pace of offshore wind developments has accelerated across Europe and presented further challenges to the recruitment of the necessary skills and expertise. Every day we lose experts to countries that are far more advanced in building their offshore renewable energy capacity and infrastructure. These include ecologists, engineers, technicians and many more people working in wind energy to build, develop and grow Ireland's energy infrastructure and correctly harness the potential of Ireland for a sustainable future.

Other European countries such as Poland and Britain have in place an industrial strategy and a sector deal between them and the domestic offshore industry. We must follow suit. These bring together the offshore renewables industry, the relevant State agencies and Departments to maximise the value of the industry domestically for clean growth, which includes a strong focus on building the domestic supply chain. We are already far behind our European counterparts and require action to prioritise training for jobs in renewable energy that are set to be in high demand, including marine planners, turbine technicians, hydrogen specialists and other technical roles.

Communities must benefit. Offshore wind farms must share funds with the communities adjacent to them. Funds from offshore wind farms can and must help transform and revitalise coastal and rural communities. Community benefits and ensuring funds are spread over the lifetime of the project are essential to the successful development of an offshore wind energy industry.

Offshore wind can help reduce our reliance on imported gas and provide cheaper energy to homes, communities, and businesses across Ireland. This will benefit everybody. Electricity prices will stay high until we get off fossil fuels. Ireland has a poor history in the context of benefiting from our own natural resources and this must change. A sectoral deal can only be achieved with collaboration between the Government, industry and officials. That should encourage the development of an indigenous supply chain, as well as foreign direct investment into Ireland.

I welcome some of the progress made thus far in reviewing current policies in line with the final report and further welcome the publication by the Government's offshore wind industrial strategy on 8 March 2024. However, action is required for more investment and strategic investment in port infrastructure. Opportunities are being developed across Ireland in many of our ports. However, for them to be ready to help to deliver for 2030, they need investment now. We are years behind where we need to be. To achieve our ambitions, we must be ready and, therefore, we must support skills development.

Our long-term security of energy supply will require a combination of renewables, significant grid development and reinforcement and, most important, we will need skilled workers to support the green transition. We must ensure there are more specialists such as ecologists, engineers, health and safety and environment professionals, technicians and seafarers to fill the jobs and skills that we will need. Failure to do this will be a missed opportunity. If we do this and invest in the right training programmes by taking a proactive approach to skills development, we can cut our carbon emissions, cut electricity bills and create jobs.

Further action requires a co-ordinated response across government to support developing the people, training, planning, and the skill sets to be able to deliver on the opportunity before us. I consider our report to be a valuable insight into the work of the committee on this important topic so far. I hope it will prove constructive in terms of the ongoing commitments needed to achieve these ambitious climate goals and how exploring Ireland's potential for offshore wind is key to achieving targets.

The committee looks forward to working proactively and productively with the Minister to address these issues. Ireland is the best location in Europe for offshore wind energy and we must act now to overcome the obstacles we face. Investing in offshore wind energy is an important opportunity for Ireland. While it is a long and expensive road to travel, the benefits of its development far outstrip the start-up costs. However, we are only at the beginning of this process. I hope the recommendations of the final report will be implemented in full. I ask the Government to adopt and implement the recommendations of the report. Offshore wind energy, both stationary and floating, has the potential to make Ireland an exporter of energy. Political parties, State agencies, the third level sector, and private companies must work together towards the delivery of this objective. The development of this area can create a whole new economic sector, as our committee report on offshore renewable energy found, with the potential to create thousands of new jobs.

The Cork Harbour trip last week highlighted just how far we as a State are behind in the delivery of this ambition.

We must have a step change in our approach. If we do not act, our European colleagues will and we will be left behind.

One of the most exciting possibilities for the harnessing of offshore wind energy is at Foynes in Limerick. The port is uniquely placed with deep waters and 127 ha of development land adjacent to it. As I have said before and I will say again many times, this is our generation's Ardnacrusha moment. This is how big this is. It is a moment that must be seized.

The development of offshore wind energy is our chance to eventually become energy independent. We can harness this energy and export the excess that we will not need or we can import energy from abroad. That is the choice. It is as simple as that - we can either harness it or buy it from abroad.

Unfortunately, we are years behind in the context of planning, infrastructure, skills and the funding needed to progress this. We, as an island, are extremely fortunate to have an abundance of national resources, including in our coastal waters. The plan on how we can deliver is there. It is ready; it just needs the support of public and private entities.

The Foynes Port 2041 strategy details how we can approach this. We have proximity to offshore wind resources. We have a deep water port with nearby land that is ripe for development. What we do not have is the appropriate grid connectivity and human capital. With a combination of these factors, we can deliver, in Foynes, 30 GW of floating offshore wind and, potentially, over 5,000 new jobs. We must utilise the factors to which I refer begin our journey towards eventual energy independence for our State.

Yesterday, the Future Framework for Offshore Renewable Energy was published. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, stated that it is "Ireland's most exciting industrial opportunity for decades." I wish that were true. I welcome this, but it is far too late. We have squandered our potential and left ourselves lagging way behind. We need a step change from the Government. We need to move from words to delivery.

See this speech in context