Ms Catherine Joyce-O'Caollai:

I will gladly answer that. The concept of hydrogen valleys is quite deeply embedded within the EU's legislation and its proposals to develop the hydrogen economy. It is whereby one has the production of energy, the production of hydrogen and its use within a relatively small confined space. The benefits are that one is not adding additional transportation costs for the use of hydrogen. If it is produced in a locality, it should have the effect of decarbonising on a lower cost base.

With respect to the opportunities for Ireland, we see some natural clusters in inception. That could be in Cork or the Shannon Estuary whereby one has the potential to land large sources of offshore wind, produce hydrogen locally at scale and then use it to decarbonise the processes that are located nearby. In Cork, that could be the refinery or, indeed, the existing gas-fired power generation that is located in the Cork Harbour area, and in a similar model at the Shannon Estuary-----