Mr. Noel Cunniffe:

The model that is used for offshore grid development across Europe varies considerably, depending country to country. Some are very state led with planning and grid, others are almost entirely developer led, which is what the UK system is. A decision was made last year by the Government that there would be a developer-led approach for the first phase of projects and then an optional developer-led or State-led approach for the second phase projects.

Phase 3, which is post-2030, will be a full State and plan-led approach.

Just to refer back to Mr. Moran's earlier point on supply chain development, it is absolutely critical that we do not have stop-start development of projects because that will really undermine investment in the sector. We need to see a continuous flow of projects from our phase 1 projects, which will go into auction this year, to the phase 2 projects. The latter are currently out for consultation but we have yet to see what the phase 3 structure will look like. We are only about four years away from that phase 3 development process kicking off in terms of planning and an auction system so this doubles back to resources. We need to see resources in the Departments that will be defining what this State-led approach will be like. There is a huge pipeline of projects trying to become phase 2 projects and many of these projects will necessarily become phase 3 projects once that State-led approach is determined in the 2030s, but we really need to see work begin on that as soon as possible.