Ms Martina Hennessy:

The Climate Action Plan 2021 set a target of 5 GW of offshore wind to be connected to the grid by 2030. I will provide an overview of the significant progress being made to deliver on this objective.

The Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 has delivered the legislative basis to enable regulation of Ireland's maritime area outside the 12 nautical mile coastal zone limit for the first time. This was an important achievement and provides certainty for offshore wind energy projects, which involve substantial levels of upfront investment. The legislation provides the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications with powers to assess the first batch of maritime area consent, MAC, applications from a set of qualified offshore renewable energy, ORE, developers. The purpose of this assessment will be to ensure only developers with the necessary financial and technical capability can enter the planning system. A consultation on the proposed MAC assessment criteria was recently completed and the Minister will shortly announce the date in April when the MAC application window will open for this first batch of applications. This will be a milestone on the critical path towards delivery on our 2030 targets, boosting international confidence in the State's intent to deliver at pace.

These assessments and the awarding of MACs to suitably qualified developers will be completed in quarter 3 of this year. Developers can then apply to An Bord Pleanála for development permission, which will involve a full environmental assessment and public consultation in respect of their proposed projects. The granting of MACs will also enable the first offshore renewable electricity support scheme auction to open in quarter 4 of 2022, providing a route to market for these projects. As part of these offshore renewable energy support scheme, ORESS, contracts, significant contributions to community benefit funds, amounting to millions of euros annually, will be required from each project. The model for the management and distribution of these funds will shortly be finalised, following the completion of a public consultation exercise.

Given this first phase of projects alone will not deliver the full 5 GW, a second batch of projects will need to be progressed through the development pipeline. Again, the overriding objective must be to ensure only the most viable and realistic projects gain entry to the planning system. The Department currently has a consultation open, setting out a range of potential criteria to identify this pool of projects, including the possible inclusion of an innovation category for non-fixed wind technologies such as floating wind. In tandem with the work being led by the Department, a range of initiatives are under way in many other Departments and State agencies to support the development of this new sector, some of which members will hear from today.

It is also important that work under way in the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the marine environment units of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage be progressed at pace to ensure appropriate data are made available to inform the sustainable development of the offshore wind energy sector while also ensuring national objectives regarding marine biodiversity are attained. Recognising the range of initiatives under way, the Cabinet committee on the environment and climate change recently approved a proposal to establish a delivery task force for offshore wind. Matt Collins, assistant secretary in the Department, will chair this task force with the aim of ensuring the alignment and co-ordinated delivery of all activities under way among Departments, State agencies and related bodies.

Work is also being progressed to establish the building blocks required to enable the full potential of our offshore resource to be realised beyond 2030. The policy intent is to move to a plan-led regime whereby the State, in consultation with all maritime users, will identify the areas best suited for sustainable renewable energy development. Work on the second offshore renewable energy development plan is in progress and includes assessment of the opportunities for wind, wave and tidal technologies. In parallel, work to assess the economic opportunity is being progressed, examining how to connect potential sources of offshore energy with large demand centres in continental Europe. The planned Greenlink interconnector will provide a 500 MW connection between Ireland and Great Britain, while the Celtic interconnector will provide a 700 MW link between Ireland and the European internal energy market by connecting Ireland to France. Non-electricity grid-related opportunities, particularly the potential to use excess renewable electricity to generate synthetic e-fuels such as hydrogen or ammonia, are also being assessed. These fuels can be used to help decarbonise the heating and cooling sectors and the transport sector, especially in the case of heavy goods vehicles, maritime transport and potentially even the aviation sector.

In summary, significant work is under way in a range of Departments and State agencies to deliver on our 2030 offshore wind targets and this work remains firmly on track. My colleague Mr. Finucane and I will be happy to take any questions.