Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Mullins will probably forgive me for being parochial but the Port of Waterford and New Ross Harbour are in my constituency and, therefore, that is where my loyalties lie. I visited the Irish maritime and energy research cluster in Cork during the summer and was quite impressed with what it is trying to do. It was intriguing from the Naval Service point of view given that the Naval Service has reinvented itself into human resource expertise in the area of research and energy innovation. The question is how to move that on with the wave energy project as there is much research taking place. How can we get beyond the research stage? Having been around this issue as well as wind energy for a long time, we never seem to be able to get beyond the prototype stage. What needs to be done to get that up and running given that we have signed the memorandum of understanding between Britain and Ireland? We realise that if we are to make headway with wave and tidal energy we have to do it as one jurisdiction. How can it be moved on from the research stage? I am aware the Government is trying to get everything in order but there appears to be a major gap between research and the delivery of units of electricity. What is the missing link and what role, if any, has the witness?