Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will broadly outline the approach. We have phases 1, 2 and 3. Phase 1 has already started. It is seven relevant projects that have been in planning for the last ten or 15 years, with one on the west coast and six on the east. They are all in the auction process at the moment and we expect there will be competitive bidding to get the best price for the Irish public. They are sites that were already in planning ten or 15 years ago, as I said.

In the second phase, we will move towards a more State-led system where the State will say this is the sort of area where we need to develop. What we do not want is a kind of Klondike system where everyone runs out and says “This is my bit of the sea”, or they put a post somewhere and say “That is my area and no one else can go near it.” It is much better where the State helps all developers in terms of the environmental assessment, what is the best place that minimises the environmental risks, what is the best place that maximises the grid connection and other development potential to develop hydrogen, ammonia or other energy uses from it, and that all developers are allowed to be part of that competitive tendering process.

Phase 3 will go even bigger again and we will really integrate our marine protected areas, environmental planning and grid development strategies, and increase the scale of resources, particularly as we go to floating wind and go towards the west and north west. That will mean it is really part of an integrated, designed system to catch the wind, convert it and ship it one way or the other, at home and also abroad. It has to be a State-led, long-term project because no one else can bring that vision or maximise the benefit to the Irish people.