Dr. Peter Heffernan:

I thank the Senator for his visit to the Marine Institute earlier in the year to inform himself on ocean energy. The application for the renewable energy lease in Galway Bay is at the stage in the process where the public consultation has been completed and the submissions received. Over 500 submissions were received. We are engaged in the process of providing feedback to the licensing authority on those submissions and hope to have that done in a matter of weeks. We will then await the consideration and determination of the licensing authority on that. I have no estimate of what that timeframe would be.