Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have a few questions for Mr Finnegan. I do not have questions for the other organisations. I had the benefit of a lengthy meeting with local Irish Water representatives recently so any questions I had were answered there. Given that I am critical of Irish Water, to be fair, I will acknowledge that the investment in the system in Cork has been substantial in the past four or five years and we are seeing the benefits.

I acknowledge the ESB apprenticeship programme. I was at the WorldSkills demonstration last year, where I spoke to someone from the ESB about its impressive apprenticeship programme, which is important. There are many public bodies, including local authorities, that need to do a lot more in offering apprenticeships for people to have alternatives. I was previously on the education and skills committee. We need to start thinking about the fact it is not necessarily a choice between university and apprenticeships and that the two can be perfectly well integrated. People can move back and forth and do different bits and pieces over the course of their lives. I acknowledge it is an impressive programme.

I thank the commission for its attendance and for the work it does, which is crucial to keeping everything running. It might have a comment to make on some of my questions, though they are primarily directed at the Department.

On the RESS, in my locality there is a fair bit of discussion about the potential for offshore wind energy and particularly floating wind energy generation. There is a fear, and 95% of industry experts are of the view, that we will miss the 2030 target of 80% of our energy coming from renewable sources. The RESS 3 cleared the smallest amounts at the highest price ever and there is a fear of the renewable pipeline running a bit thin. I am aware that some companies looking at floating offshore energy feel that progress is so far off that they have now diverted resources to non-Irish projects. That includes companies that are based here. That is a concern. There is a feeling we are moving too slowly and too cautiously in the floating offshore space and that is reflected in the RESS and other areas. Perhaps Mr. Finnegan would comment on that.

In addition, will Mr. Finnegan comment on the planning obstacles? Perhaps the Planning and Development Bill will address some of this. The average waiting time for a decision is 92 weeks. It is meant to be 18 weeks and some of the RESS contracts are timing out because the grid connection cannot be secured on time. That is a concern. I welcome the small-scale renewable electricity support scheme, SRESS. It makes sense because community projects seem to find it difficult to access the RESS. Perhaps Mr. Finnegan would address the issues around planning and the RESS. The SRESS will take off at the start of the year. Is that right?