Mr. Noel Cunniffe:

I have probably covered off the majority of the points on the cost of our auctions compared with other jurisdictions. I will say that renewables are significantly cheaper than our fossil fuel alternatives now and we should not lost sight of that. I am trying to highlight the fact that they can be even cheaper again. Electricity prices are dominated by international events right now. If 80% of our electricity is generated domestically from renewable sources, we have much greater control over our future electricity price. That should be the price on which we are focused. I will share with the committee the saving money report to which I referred earlier, which includes ten points outlining how we can half the cost of developing renewables.

I will cover the question about point-to-point connections. The Deputy was referring to a concept called "private wires", which is in the climate action plan as a piece of legislation and regulation to be enabled in the first half of this year, as I understand it. There is work ongoing in the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, EirGrid and the ESB Networks to try to enable that policy. It is absolutely something we can take advantage of for both onshore and offshore renewables. It will, in particular, be key to unlocking a lot of our green hydrogen potential in the future when there is no space available on our electricity grid, at least in the short term, for those projects to be realised.

The Deputy asked about investment. I might hand over to Mr. Moran to cover the issue in more detail. I will say there has already been significant investment in many Irish businesses and in ports around the country to try to support the offshore sector in its efforts to get off the ground. In recent months, we have seen announcements in Arklow, Wicklow and Rossaveal Port. There has been strong investment in port facilities to try to capture some of the value chain that offshore wind energy offers. Two years ago, we published a report called Harnessing Our Potential, which looked at the entire value chain for offshore wind in Ireland. It showed that right now we can capture approximately 15% to 20% of the value chain but that can be almost doubled if we invest in the right skill sets and port facilities during this decade. Perhaps Mr. Moran has something to add.