Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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I might add to that as well. I believe there was a publication by the offshore renewable energy industry as well on the potential value to the Irish economy of the entire industry. Arklow was mentioned. I know that 80 jobs are to be created in Arklow. I see an opportunity for a lot of coastal towns like Arklow to benefit in some way through the entire process of manufacture, from construction to design and maintenance. Every one in these plants at some stage will have a decommissioning stage as well.

There is ongoing opportunity for employment and value uptake in those coastal communities. I wish to add another point on community gain, a point raised by Deputy McAuliffe. I think the community gain for the coastal community was referenced. We have to consider that the marine environment is seven times larger that the terrestrial environment, and that the marine space is all of Ireland's space, so I would not like to see community gain just being directed at coastal towns or villages. The entire country should benefit from any community gain in that, especially as the transition to renewables will also see the reduction in the more traditional fossil fuel reliant industries, which tend to be concentrated in midland areas, so there are opportunities for that community gain to supplement just transition funds also. I wanted to make that point.