David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As an aside, and maybe I am stretching it a bit raising it with the Estimates, there is going to be huge potential in the development of offshore wind. A lot of jobs will be created in that sector. A lot of new skills will be required and there will need to be a lot upskilling. A lot of the landing jobs will be onshore but many will be on ships. What strategies are being put in place to ensure those jobs on ships will be of benefit to Ireland and Irish workers and that they will not be for people from other countries, in other words, that they will not be Irish-controlled ships? That whole sector is moving and developing quickly and I am not sure the Department is focused on it yet. With regard to the offshore work and ships, we need to build them. The expansion in offshore renewable energy will lead to a global shortage of these vessels. It is going to be a big challenge. There are bottlenecks in this industry that we need to be prepared for. I thought I would flag that issue.

As for my own area and Cork Harbour, the Port of Cork recently got serious funding to expand its enterprise there to develop offshore wind. We went to Belfast to look at what is being done up there. It is way ahead. There is also some ideal land at the back of the Port of Cork, which could be very useful for this industry. I raised this previously and we learned about that when we visited Cork. The Department could have look at it and talk to the IDA about leasing it or making it available to the port to take some pressure off and allow us to get a step ahead. We have the maritime areas off the coast that have been put in place but we need to have a place to assemble the turbines and all the infrastructure that goes with that. There are a lot of high-tech jobs in this sector and because it is offshore, it should not be as problematic as the onshore wind farms, which have become toxic.

In my area, we have solar farms sprouting up, with hundreds of acres of solar farms in one spot and thousands of acres being earmarked. There is fair kickback against that. People do not like to see it when they are looking out. The Tánaiste, in the Dáil today, said that instead of looking at 40 shades of green, people will be looking at 40 shades of grey. It will be a big change if that happens, so it is something for the Department to keep an eye on.