Mr. Paddy Teahon:

In addition to Oriel, the other companies are the Dublin Array, Codling Wind Park and, our friends who will be speaking in a while, SSE in Arklow. These companies could deliver 2.5 GW of power, and it is not always recognised that they could do this in the near term, that being, within the 2021 timeframe. However, a number of requirements would have to be met first, which is the crunch of the message with which we would like to leave the committee. A critical requirement is for a Government policy statement, one to the effect that offshore wind will be developed intensively now, to be conveyed to those Departments and agencies that would implement the actions flowing from it. There are seven such bodies, so the committee should realise that this is not a simple issue. It is critical that Departments be able to act on the policy statement.

There are two immediate actions. The renewable energy support system, RESS, should have a technology specific auction for offshore wind now and it should operate within a target of 75% for renewable electricity in 2020.