Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 15 July 2025

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Fisheries and Maritime Affairs

Planning Challenges in Offshore Renewable Energy: Discussion

2:00 am

Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)

I thank the witnesses very much for coming in today. I just have a couple of questions. In his statement, Mr. Moran said this is an "incredible opportunity to build a resilient economy, and to revitalise coastal communities, with secure, affordable, clean energy". A while ago, he touched on it being affordable. We do see - I know it is different - we have more onshore wind farms than ever before but customers are still paying the second-highest prices in Europe. The onshore wind farms made the same promise of cleaner and more affordable energy. How does Mr. Moran propose to combat the same things that have happened on land happening in respect of offshore?

Turning to the representatives of MARA, can a timeline be given to provide the list of maritime activities that do not require maritime usage licences? It was also mentioned that best international practice was looked at. What countries are seen as having the best practice?

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