Mr. Justin Moran:

It is important to distinguish between the two different kinds of ports, as the Deputy did in his question. There are ports used to develop or construct an offshore wind farm, of which we have none available in this State. Belfast is the only port that can be used to actually construct an offshore wind farm. One of the concerns we have is that we should not act as if Belfast will be simply available, waiting for us. Belfast has contracts to service British wind farms on their side of the Irish Sea. Having a port available to construct and develop a wind farm is critical to us. There have been some great announcements in recent times, with additional funding from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, for the Port of Cork. Rosslare is moving ahead with its projects as well and might have recently obtained a maritime area consent. On the west coast, Shannon Foynes is looking at that opportunity as well.

We can also send to members a detailed breakdown of exactly what is needed on port infrastructure. Basically, it is very strong, reinforced quays, deep-water approaches and a huge amount of space, which can accommodate the turbines. In terms of the service opportunity, that is something more for smaller ports. If we look at the projects we have in the Irish Sea, Arklow Harbour and Wicklow Harbour have been identified by Irish Sea Projects as harbours where it would have an operations and maintenance base. It would need crew transfer vessels to be able to move in and out there. In the long-term, that is potentially the greater opportunity because we are talking about an operations and maintenance base with 60 or 80 people working there full-time for the duration of the operational lifetime of the offshore wind farm. It is a really great opportunity for smaller ports that are better able to accommodate that.

I agree with the Deputy. We have to ensure the final version of the national ports study facilitates investment in this infrastructure. From an economic point of view, a service port needs to be in close proximity because crew transfer vessels are going in and out all of the time. To be frank, we could build an offshore wind farm from Cherbourg or Wales. We do not want to do that. We want to build them from Irish ports, but if Belfast is the only port and it is unavailable, we still have to build them.