Mr. Pat Keating:

The Deputy is right in saying a number of Departments and agencies, approximately 11 in all, are involved. Co-ordination is key. The policy Department, if you like, is currently the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is the relevant Minister. Planning and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage have important roles to play because MARA and An Bord Pleanála currently reside within that Department. As I explained earlier, the policy and consent to planning pieces are in two separate Departments. Within the piece that falls to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, with MARA and An Bord Pleanála, there is potentially a resourcing issue that needs to be addressed and fast-tracked.

The port infrastructure piece resides within the Department of Transport. I can confirm that our Vision 2041 master plan is widely acknowledged and accepted by all Departments. We consulted extensively during the compilation of the plan. The Department of Transport has given us every indication that it is assisting and prioritising its implementation. As the Deputy said, the implementation includes the Limerick-Foynes road scheme, which has been consented to by An Bord Pleanála. It is at the judicial review stage. The planning interactions there are critical. That is a critical piece of infrastructure, not only from the offshore renewable energy, ORE, perspective, but also from the perspective of current business and the potential future expansion of freight capacity. That sits alongside the railway. Both of those projects complement each other and provide synergy. The railway is, thankfully, under construction, led by Irish Rail. It is due to be reinstated for commercial purposes by 2025 and it will connect as far as the jetty head at Foynes Port.

We have called out a new 800 m deep-water quay at Foynes Island, which will be a post-Panamax-enabled quay and will be rail connected. We have commenced the planning process in that regard and we hope to be going to An Bord Pleanála by 2025. We need a MAC for that. We have this project scoped out and have done well over a year's work on the preplanning side. We are now ready to make a MAC application but MARA needs to be operational to issue a MAC. These are some of the roadblocks that are coming home to roost, so to speak. It is essential for us to be able to apply for a MAC for that infrastructure that MARA is up and running in September 2023, as has been stated.

We have engaged an international company named Bechtel to look at the engineering side of our master plan and to examine the funding and financing strategies. As I stated in my opening address in respect of funding, the projects are viable. We have done high-level cost benefit analyses, CBAs. Once we hit the various run rates, our projects are viable. However, given the current nature of the ORE sector, in particular, we will require a change in the funding model and will more than likely require some sort of sovereign debt model, which would require a sovereign guarantee for the initial phases due to the uncertainties of the national sector.

Like any start-up phase, one is going to need some kind of State underwriting or guarantee to support the commercial banks, the European Investment Bank, EIB, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, and all of these agencies. Our current ports policy states that the Exchequer will not be involved in port infrastructure, and that port policy is up for review later on this year.

We are looking at that particular clause in the ports policy, for the funding of future port infrastructure. We are not saying all port infrastructure, but maybe specific port infrastructure. That clause probably needs to be looked at and reviewed, revised or whatever. There is no doubt but that the State has to become more involved - maybe not directly, but indirectly - in the funding model around port infrastructure, particularly for ORE, given that it is a start-up type sector. Once we achieve run rates, this becomes bedded in. The State can then, maybe, step out again, and one can do project finance or something similar.

What we ask is that alongside the key hinterland connectivity requirements which, from Shannon Foynes Port Company's perspective, the State is involved in and supporting - the Limerick-Foynes road and the Limerick-Foynes rail line via Irish Rail - we also need to look at the funding model, and the future funding models in the ports policy. Each port here has its own views on that. Ports are commercial but there is a timing issue here where we need to have the infrastructure available, because the port infrastructure for ORE is an enabling infrastructure, alongside the grid. EirGrid has another key role here. However, that enabling infrastructure has to be available to developers to be able to use, whether it is grid or port. The State has a role to play there, because we are starting from scratch as a country.

Then there is the investment that it supports. For example, €1.5 billion per gigawatt in private sector investment going into offshore renewables is what the levers of this port infrastructure investment provides. We are not looking for direct subsidies but with regard to the timing gap in the funding model, you need upfront certainty for funders in order to be able to place money with ports to do the infrastructure.