Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy has identified the key aspect, which is the notion of a longer-term roadmap to provide certainty to the industry, including investors and those developing. When I entered my role, I was conscious that we needed to put a more long-term plan in place with respect to development potential, and that is why we have pivoted away from the idea of an iterative process - beginning with the south east and moving to the south west and regions all the way up along the coast in blocks - to the consideration of an entire zone where suitable sites would be identified for offshore wind capture. This will mean that those who will bid for the Tonn Nua site – there will be winners and losers – will know there will be another option available relatively quickly thereafter and that the period will be up to 2050, which is what we are all aiming for. That will provide some certainty.

I am conscious that the work done by the Department on the marine planning site has stood the test of time in terms of the first DMAP. In this regard there will be an auction for the Tonn Nua site in the marketplace later this year. The careful work on this has meant there has been no judicial review. The Deputy will know that it is currently pretty difficult to get something through without a judicial review. We are confident that we now have a model that is scalable. I am conscious of what the Deputy said about there being a point in time when there will be no offshore wind energy generation. While she is correct, it is a bit like an opinion poll in that it reflects a snapshot in time. I am hopeful and the Government believes it is just a case of a short period after which we will have both the plan-led and developer-led projects – the phase 1 projects – coming on board. Some of these are no longer happening, as the Deputy knows. At the Sceirde Rocks site, there were going to be issues. Potentially, we will have a lot of issues anyway. The Sceirde Rocks developers have decided not to proceed, and that reduces the quantum of electricity we might have hoped to see coming on board. However, I am confident that as we have pivoted from developer-led projects to plan-led projects, the State is more in control of where it is going in terms of getting permissions and plans in place and then getting out of the way of the developers. It is about putting in place the appropriate auction mechanism and contract for difference, which continues to be an important aspect. I am conscious that several countries, in the belief that offshore wind energy generation was commercially viable without the support of the state-----