Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief as I know we have a time schedule. I welcome the Minister to the House. I spoke to him previously of my belief in the power of wind energy and what it can do in this country. I am so ambitious for what we have. We do not have many natural resources on this island but we have wind and it blows for free. We have always had it but it is only now that we are able to harness it. We are all frustrated - I am sure our frustration is shared by the Minister - because we want to see wind projects become operational. We see their value, given that 34% of our electricity needs are now catered for by wind energy.

We are a leader in this area and we can be so much better than we are currently. There are delays but there has been significant progress in the two years since the Minister took office. We have the Maritime Area Planning Act and we are moving progressively forward. When will MARA be up and running? Will it be during quarter 1 of this year? How many staff will it have? Have all the staff been recruited? Are they being trained? Will it be oven-ready to make decisions on wind farms?

We have great opportunities along the east coast and it is a real shame we are not ready along the Atlantic coast. The Atlantic will be the tipping point at which we move from being an importer of energy to becoming an exporter. Our targets are very ambitious. While they can be achieved, we need to pull out all the stops. MARA needs to be up and running as soon as possible.

What is the position regarding foreshore licensing? There is a backlog of up to 60 foreshore licence applications in the Department. Where are the answers for businesses that are putting their resources into the huge amount of work needed to get to the point of planning.We need those regulations. I would love to hear from the Minister a concrete date for when those guidelines will be published. There is so much we can do around education. Is there a plan for his Department to work with the Department of higher and further education with regard to apprenticeships and training for people who are going to work on these wind farms? There are good, long-term jobs in local and small areas that can really bring rural Ireland alive.

I also want to ask about the port infrastructure. Belfast was mentioned before. There is nothing wrong with Belfast Port and it is fantastic that it has the infrastructure, but we need an extra port on the island of Ireland. It is too important for the State not to invest in ports. We have Greenore and Drogheda in County Louth. Drogheda has great capacity. It takes in gas. It could be a beacon on the east coast for taking in hydrogen in the future. It needs investment. I would like to know where the plans are in the Department to start investing and make sure those ports are up and running. That is a key question for me. Where are we on MARA? Where is the infrastructure for our ports? Where are the jobs and the plans for up-scaling our apprenticeships and training and making sure we have an efficient timeline process?