Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 1 March 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Energy - Ambition and Challenges: Discussion

Mr. Paul Lennon:

In relation to EU funding, the ESB has applied for European funding for the initial design phase as part of the green Atlantic Moneypoint project. We fully support that. In terms of jobs, we are seeing a huge number of indirect jobs created locally through large infrastructure projects. Indeed, just focusing on the Moneypoint project, we have seen the creation of many thousands of direct jobs, but significantly more indirect jobs, in terms of retail and so forth, over the course of that project. There is an opportunity for developing those skills as well. From a third level institution perspective, we have engaged with most of the third level institutions, trying to map out where we see the offshore wind industry going over the next number of years to ensure third level graduates have the necessary skills. It is not that third level students are learning anything different now. It is about tailoring it specifically to either offshore wind or hydrogen. The main basic principles around the education system are sound. It is just about complementing it with offshore wind and hydrogen or other storage activities. There is a suite of items there. ESB and many other developers take an active interest in that space because it is the only way that Ireland is ultimately going to deliver its long-term objectives.

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