John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. To follow on from the points raised by Senator Dooley, we have ambitious targets, which is great, and I have no doubt that we will get very close to achieving them but we have to make sure that infrastructural Ireland - for want of a better term - the Civil Service or whatever you want to call it does not bog down those ambitious targets and slow that process down whether through the planning process with An Bord Pleanála, through general officialdom or through various different Departments. We have to be sure that everyone is working from the same playbook and is on the same page and that we are all moving in the same direction. We have ambitious targets because wind is one of the greatest natural resources we, as a country, have. I have no doubt that, within the next decade, Ireland will become a renewable powerhouse of Europe and will be able to export and sell excess wind energy to other European countries that do not have any. That is where we are going to go with it. In my part of the world, we are in the process of building the Setanta Wind Park. It is located just off the coast at Clogherhead, County Louth and will have the ability to generate up to 1 GW of energy a year.Some 1 million homes a year will be powered by this wind farm off the coast of County Louth. It will also have a carbon offset of 1 billion kg per annum. That is just a small example of what one wind farm can do.

Yesterday morning in Dundalk, I had a meeting with a couple of people about hydrogen and wind energy. I saw a map of Ireland indicating all the planned offshore wind projects that will be in place from the west coast right around the country. It is quite incredible and impressive. I have a couple of questions following on from that. The Minister mentioned everything we have to do to ensure we are attracting investment into Ireland to help with our wind energy sector. He might outline exactly what more is being done to make sure that investment is coming here. As he said, we are in direct competition with a number of other countries. What is being used as a unique selling point to get that investment into Ireland rather than other countries?

I have another question relating to An Bord Pleanála. The Minister stated that it will be scaled up. How will that be done? How exactly will it be ensured that these issues do not get bogged down in a planning process? Is it a case of extra staff and resources? What is the game plan with that to make sure it does not get bogged down? I will hand over to my colleague, Senator Kyne. I would appreciate a follow-up to my questions.

This is something to be very excited about. Wind is a natural resource that we have as the only country on the western edge of the European Continent. It is something to be very excited about. By the end of all this, what we have introduced here will be the envy of many European countries.