Mr. Noel Cunniffe:

I might hand over to Ms O'Connell to take the fishing question relating to Scotland and to my colleague, Mr. Moran, to comment on coastal communities. In regard to the State ownership question, there are many active State-owned companies in the energy sector in Ireland right now. Everyone will be familiar with the ESB, one of the largest owners of onshore wind energy in Ireland. Through a partnership between the ESB and Coillte, Future Energy Ireland has been established as a State company developing onshore wind energy and Bord na Móna is very much established as an onshore wind energy and solar developer as well. There is a great deal of State involvement in that. Moreover, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund is one of the main investors in Ms O’Connell’s Inis Offshore Wind. We will see investment from the State in that.

Any offshore wind farm that is developed around Ireland will also pay a seabed lease, so revenue for the State will be generated from every offshore wind farm that is developed. We are also seeing considerable levels of investment in, as I mentioned, many ports throughout the country, which are putting up their hands and saying they want to invest here and to keep as much money in Ireland as they can. We have seen those announcements in Arklow and Wicklow from maintenance and operations bases being set up.

My one concern, as has been suggested by a number of groups previously, is that if we were to take a step back and to establish a State body to develop offshore wind energy, it would take a very long time to resource that and to establish both it and a regulator. We would not develop a single offshore wind turbine for the next ten to 15 years if we were to do that. Many of the projects around our coasts have been in development for years or, in some cases, decades, and those projects need to proceed and we need to be able to establish that. There is a significant role for the State in resourcing Departments. We need a functional State Department, through An Bord Pleanála, EirGrid, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, to be able to deliver the full potential for this industry in order that we can get a return for the people.