John McGahon (Fine Gael)
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Two weeks ago, the EU proposed a new target of 40% for renewable energy. It was very clear about wanting to accelerate the planning process generally for projects like wind farms. We spoke today about the need to have serious finance put into this country to try to get us to where we need to be, to have the infrastructure in place for production and to hit the targets. The EU has launched a €5 billion pot called the trans-European network, TEN-E. The criteria for offshore wind have been updated. The EU has started the legislative process now and it is appealing to member states to apply for funding from this pot of money to try to supercharge its wind energy efforts. Given that the EU legislative process has just started, should Ireland be using the time to try to apply for funding? Could the pot of money be useful to Ireland so that we are not relying on Government resources to try to put the significant level of financial resources into this that we need?