Ms Marie Donnelly:

That moves into my area of activity because, as the Senator will be aware, I was in renewable energy for years. Among the natural resource maps of Europe, Ireland and the north of Scotland stand out as having enormous resource possibilities. We are very fortunate in that respect. The advantage of the east coast is that it is a shallower sea, so foundation offshore wind farms are possible there. Legacy locations have been established and we can move there fairly quickly. We have opportunities moving down the south coast and certainly on the west coast. Floating is probably the appropriate technology for the west coast because the sea there is quite deep. Building foundation turbines there is probably not an option, so floating turbines would be a more suitable area.

The technology is moving very fast. About eight years ago, I took a small boat out to an offshore floating wind platform off the coast of Porto, Portugal, which was being funded by the European Union. I got very seasick in the process, I have to say. These are enormous projects. What is in question are the shape, the size and the combination. When we put one of these rigs in the ocean, although it is anchored to the ground, there is the question of whether it is one wind turbine or more. Should there be anchor issues out of it to allow you to get some wave movement as well, whereby there would be not just wind but also wave and, potentially, even solar? What is the best mix of shape and size of these structures? It is still a little bit away from commercial but not far.

Ireland is perfectly located in this regard and the opportunity exists for us because we have the wind that is required and some of the deepest ports in Europe. We have the capacity, therefore, to take the ships we will need for this. We need, however, a very clear plan in order that individual investors can come along and say they can provide one aspect and somebody else can say they can provide another. It needs an holistic plan. For example, we have deep ports but they are not large enough for the size of the turbines. I apologise for again raising Denmark, but I had the opportunity to visit the ports there, where the harbours were lengthened to enable them to take the long turbine stems. We have to think about that as one of the aspects.

Do we have the ships and the skills? We have a fishing fleet in Ireland but we have not traditionally had a great seafaring skill in the country. We possibly need to enhance that and to link it with the engineering side in order that we can get the benefit from it. We need also to think about whether we are going to go with mesh or radial connections. Radial is one to one, while mesh is a more connected processing. If we are going to do that, we have to design it in advance and doing that is at the forefront of technology. It is being considered for the North Sea and we should be part of that discussion because we will have the same issues in our offshore construction as we go forward.

Another question, for example, relates to where we will land the power and what we will use it for when it lands. Will we have multiple electrolysers or perhaps just a few very large ones, given we will need storage capacity if we are to produce hydrogen, for example? Where will we locate the storage capacity? In fact, it will require a national strategic plan for the development of that resource.

The Senator is correct; bringing together all the expertise is the kind of step we need to take now. There is much expertise on the policy and academic side, who have conducted the modelling as to what is involved there. EirGrid and ESB Networks also have experience in that space. We need to bring together that expertise to decide what the picture will look like, to make it public and, ultimately, to be able to commit to that. It will take a few years but, as the Senator said, we need to start working on it now. I understand that in Clare and Mayo, he is taking the lead in that context.