Mr. Ciaran McCarthy:

It is particularly disappointing in this context.

Mr. Kingston mentioned renewables. The current Administration has committed to 7 GHz of offshore renewables by the end of the decade. There is a section within the Bill on renewables. We really do not have very much legislation on renewable energy. It is not appropriate just to tack renewables provisions onto the end of the Bill, as has been done.

With respect to the renewables legislation proposed, we do not have the legislation to deal with the non-standard vessels we will need to build our offshore wind farms. At the moment, they are classed as passenger ships, which represents a big expense and an impediment to our progress. There is also a requirement for load line certificates for ships that are Irish registered and that are here for quite a while. This is a major impediment. The legislation on this covers a huge area and should be stand-alone. The Bill seeks to deal with the types of people carried on the ships so they will not have to have passenger certificates, but it does nothing to address the people who navigate the ships. Our colleagues in the UK have a completely different system of certification, basically meaning a person certified to navigate a large ocean-going oil tanker does not need to be the person employed to navigate one of the smaller ships. There is a lot missing in this regard.