Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)

The most significant hurdle was planning. To be fair, these are the first offshore wind farms built since Arklow. We only have one offshore wind facility. Five of the projects are a matter of further information from An Bord Pleanála. In fairness, this will be a learning. I met with the ORESS 1 developers myself. They are all committed to proceeding. The new planning Act will be very important for the next phase, as will the marine planning Act and the establishment of MARA, which is in place and up and running now. I see the next phases under the new planning architecture as being much more streamlined. There will still be challenges, however. These are complex projects in the context of our capacity.

That is why the national DMAP will be important because we will de-risk projects. We have already purchased survey data we can share with the sector too. Obviously, it is then about investing in our grid onshore to take that offshore energy on shore and be able to distribute it. That will be the subject of price review 6, which will see multiples of price review 5 and well over €10 billion of investment in a five-year period in our grid. Initially, the biggest challenge was planning but we have learned a lot through this process. I expect the next iteration and planning applications under Tonn Nua will not be as difficult as they have been heretofore. It is important to say the development sector is committed to Ireland.