Mr. Paul Kelly:

I thank the Deputy for his range of questions. On Arklow and the array being decommissioned, I grew up on the coast between Wicklow and Wexford. I have looked at the Arklow wind farm for my entire life and its full duration. It is just part of the receiving environment in Arklow at this stage. There is affection towards that wind farm. A lot of fears about the implications of offshore wind were really debunked by the presence of the farm.

One of the benefits of the maturing of the technology over the last 20 years is the technology is getting bigger and the consequences of technology getting bigger is that the separation distances between turbines gets bigger. The phase 1 projects that are in the planning process at the moment have separation distances typically of 1 km between turbines, so there is sufficient space for fishing to occur within wind farms. Fishing within wind farms is really a function of the type of fishing, as I am sure the Deputy is aware. Careful planning in consultation with the local fishing community is very important in that context. There is static fishing, as in fishing with pots and ropes, occurring in wind farms all around the coast of the UK. There is dredging fishing occurring within wind farms in the UK. That can, therefore, occur. What an operator of a wind farm would suggest - and it is not restricted by legislation in the UK - is to respect a 50 m advisory distance from the edge of infrastructure, just from the perspective of safe maritime practices.