Mr. Justin Moran:

It depends on what exactly is needed from the project at a specific period in time. The period of construction for an offshore wind farm is two to three years. There could be a situation where different pieces of work for perhaps two wind farms are coming out of the same port at the same time. There could be a situation where a main port is being used for marshalling services and a nearby port is also involved in taking on some of that work. There can be multi-port opportunities. The facility at Belfast Port is fantastic. If the committee members ever get the chance to visit it, I highly recommend it. It is an example of what first-class facilities for construction and marshalling look like. With the best will in the world, you cannot build 5,000 MW of offshore wind simultaneously in five different projects from that facility. Either you put them in a queue, basically, and do them as quickly as possible to get through the work, or you find other port facilities or infrastructure. With Shannon Foynes, there is enormous potential for the port to be a hub not just for the construction of offshore wind farms but as a place where we can bring power onshore and create green hydrogen, which is one of the real exciting export opportunities for Ireland. There is also an opportunity to take that green hydrogen and decarbonise some the sectors of our own economy that are quite difficult to decarbonise, such as heating, transport and electricity.