Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are trying to avoid bringing the economy to a halt in any way as we try to find new ways in which energy can be generated. We will do that. The Deputy is right. We are not where we want to be in terms of having access to more renewable energy. We need to do better than we are doing at present. This is why I go back to the importance of the legislative change that has just been made.

As the Deputy knows, that change will end up with an agency the role of which will be to try to deliver what the Deputy calls for. More important than the agency has been that a great many issues needed clarification with regard to our marine foreshore and its licensing and planning. The legislation the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, brought forward had been years in the making, has been long called for, and has now happened. I hope that lays the foundation for making the kind of progress the Deputy wants to see happen.