Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

To be clear, when this NPF is passed, whenever that might be although we hope it will happen by the end of the year, a round of RSESs will then have to be done by the three regional assemblies. At that stage, there will be guidance for them to allocate that capacity. That will then feed into zoning under the development plans. Some areas will be considered most appropriate. That is the type of language will be used. That is critically important. Looking at table 9.1, which relates to onshore wind, the eastern and midlands area currently has 284 MW. The target is almost an additional 2 GW of onshore wind energy. Are these targets like housing targets in that they are not a cap? Can we go further and exceed these targets? We are quite good at onshore development in this country. We are only starting into offshore development but we will make good progress on that as well. We can do more than that.