Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

My perspective, for what it is worth, is that there should be a separate allocation for displacement of fishing effort and for the fisheries community rather than having the two come under the same umbrella and share the same fund. These wind farms will generate electricity and they will also generate huge profit for the members the witnesses are representing here today. There should be a very strong economic and social dividend in the communities that will host these developments off the coast. We are not getting into what we have seen in other countries and, indeed, in the midlands here where there has been an extractive approach adopted to generating energy or creating wealth.

My next set of questions is for MARA and I will start by talking about proximity. Tonn Nua, at its closest point, is 12 km off the Waterford coast, which has led to a huge amount of disquiet among inshore fisheries and people living in the region and running businesses there.

While we do not have an idea of where the eventual winners of the auction will locate the wind farm, most people in Waterford and around the coast would say that we need to develop this. What is international best practice for the offshore distance in terms of wind turbine arrays? From the witnesses' knowledge, where are we with floating wind farms like those off the coast of Norway where conditions might be significantly worse than off the relatively milder south coast of Ireland? In the professional opinion of the witnesses, are additional safeguards required for designated amenity or scenic areas of coastline where there is a developed tourism industry that has been significant for the local economy?