Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 8 March 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Energy - Ambition and Challenges: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Peter Coyle:

The industry perspective is that we have an extraordinary intellectual advantage in this area. We have major facilities that were bought with money that was scraped up from all over the place and built in 2015 during the height of the recession for €15 million or €20 million in Cork. They provide us with world-class test facilities for devices and help ports to test out their new facilities and arrangements. They are probably the leading facilities in Europe. We have expertise in underwater unmanned vehicles in Limerick. There is expertise in Galway and Maynooth and considerable expertise in Belfast. I happen to be fortunate enough to chair the Bryden Centre in Queen's University Belfast. The centre is a leading light, particularly on the wave energy side. There are facilities at Strangford Lough. We have a major intellectual advantage. We have many people who are good in this area, we have many facilities, we have resources and we have an opportunity. There is a great deal happening, but we need to pull it all together and match it with a large industrial development opportunity. There are indications that, if we can get beyond the installation, operations and maintenance and into the manufacturing and services area, there are significant job creation opportunities, particularly in terms of floating wind and wave energy. We have a large wave energy opportunity as well.

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