Mr. Dan O'Connor:

I am representing Brian Britton on behalf of Oriel. Brian is not well at the moment. I had a different hat on 15 years ago when I worked in General Electric and we supplied the turbines to Arklow. At that time, Ireland was in the lead and those projects were world firsts. It is incredibly sad that 15 years on, nothing has happened. A number of projects are in really good shape and ready to go. I was involved in bringing in the Parkwind transaction and can confirm that there are many investors who are absolutely willing to get involved. This is not a 2030 issue; these guys are ready to go now. This can be delivered in the early 2020s. We were in the lead 15 years ago but now the rest of Europe has overtaken us. Only very simple things need to be done, particularly for this committee. We need a really strong message from Government that this is part of policy and that offshore in particular can play an important role. It is complicated because there are a number of Departments. Mr. Manly is representing the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. However, there are other issues in respect of planning, the grid and energy. We need a system that allows them to work together. If we can get that, I can confirm that investors are out there ready and willing to invest. Most of those parties are surprised that Ireland has not taken the lead on this.