Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 1 March 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Energy - Ambition and Challenges: Discussion

Mr. Noel Cunniffe:

We are going to need to, for sure. We notice it in industry at the moment with the number of projects that we are trying to progress. There are simply not enough skill sets right across all aspects of planning, economics, grid engineers and electrical engineers. They do not exist in Ireland right now. We are going to have to learn from our international partners who have developed these projects successfully in the past ten years and take best practice. What we really need to focus on, as was called out by Mr. Moran earlier, in the Skills for Zero Carbon report, is investing in third level institutions in order that we can grow and build our own domestic resources in terms of future engineers, economists and planners so that we can deliver by 2030.