Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have two small questions to end. There is a strategy around offshore wind that will see much of the Irish Sea having an offshore wind infrastructure, as well as a similar infrastructure coming westward from Britain. With all this fixed infrastructure in the Irish Sea, has the Minister and his counterpart in the British Government examined the possibility of there being a cellular network at sea as well? We are currently very much reliant on satellite coverage. Some of the larger ships and ferries that go across carry their own cellular tower onboard. For many people and vessels that are at sea every day, however, they do not have sophisticated radios. Some of the radios are old, clapped out and do not have transponders. It would be an opportune time to have a co-operation agreement with our British counterparts to have fixed cellular signal available as people cross that sea, certainly in the shipping lanes. This is especially as the distance between our two nations is so narrow and there is not a huge amount of ground between us. There will be fixed infrastructure to the seabed.