David Maxwell (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I thank the witnesses for coming in. I have an observation rather than a question. It is important that the witnesses have come in and briefed us on the issue. It has given us an insight into the offshore wind energy industry. As someone from an inland county, I do not know much about fishing or offshore wind. I see the wind turbines inland and I have always thought that out in the sea is the place to have them. They are away from people. I visited Killybegs a month ago when I was appointed to the committee and saw the boats tied up. If I was a fisherman, I would see the threat from quotas and then now the possibility of wind turbines being installed on the fishing ground that I fish. Mr. Moran or Mr. Kelly said that some fishing can take part in other parts, which is something to look at. We need to consult fishermen. That is important. We should not go so far down the line and then bring in the fishermen; they should be brought in from the start to get buy-in. I spoke to fishermen and they are not against turbines. However, if you have been fishing a certain fishing ground for the past 20 years and the next thing turbines are to go up in a wind farm that is 30 km wide, that would be a worry.

To going back to what Senator Blaney and Deputy Gallagher said, there is a massive dock in Killybegs. One would think that is ripe for the wind industry and that there would not have to be much money spent in Killybegs to allow boats to come in to do this work. There seems to have been a lot of talk about looking at different areas. I would have thought Killybegs is an option. There has been investment in the port and it is not a big jump to get to the next stage that it could be a port for this activity on the west coast. Perhaps there are other ports better developed; I do not know. The quay there must be 200 m or 300 m long. There was nothing tied up when I visited. What do we need to get onto the west coast? If you drive down to Rosslare, you will see the Arklow Wind Farm. What will it take to get us to that wind? We all know that offshore wind will get us to that magical decarbonisation or reduce our carbon footprint. What can this committee do to help wind energy developers to get to the west coast and get it working.

My point is they need to engage with the fishermen early. We do want to be bringing the witnesses back here in two years, tit-for-tat, and asking why they are not engaging with the fishermen. We need to try to bring everyone with us. I think the fishermen will work with them and we can arrive at something that is mutually beneficial to everyone, including the consumer, which at the end of the day is what we want as well.