Ms Vanessa O'Connell:

In effect, the Offshore Wind Industry Council sits outside of governance yet includes Government and industry representation. We would have to figure out exactly how it would work in Ireland. It could probably be an offshoot of the offshore wind industry taskforce. The industry and the Government would be involved. It would then be a matter of figuring out what the focus areas should be. Today, we are very focused on the supply chain. When you look at the sector deals in the UK, Poland and elsewhere, supply chain is a key focus. Other elements that are focused on include the points around system integration and resourcing.

One issue I have not mentioned today, which is extremely important, is the environment. There is now a big focus on having a net-positive effect on the environment from offshore wind. We can only get that by working together. As it currently stands, offshore wind farms will do their own environmental assessments on a project-by-project basis. The environment is much broader than that. There is much work now ongoing in talking about some sort of strategic compensation and looking across the board. We would have to work together to figure out how the implementation would work. The Government needs to do its business, but there needs to be collaboration. We must figure out where it makes sense to do it.