Mr. Noel Cunniffe:

I might refer to my colleague, Ms O'Connell, to respond to the Deputy's question on the Scottish strategy. I agree with the Deputy that the target that we have to deliver 80% of our electricity from renewable sources by 2030 is extremely ambitious. We definitely think it is deliverable but in order for that to happen, a lot of things need to fall into place in terms of our planning system, our grid system and our route to market. We appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action a few months ago. We stated that we have a 50:50 chance of achieving the 5 GW the target for offshore wind energy specifically. We are not here to say that we need a higher target for offshore wind. We are saying that we really need to double down and focus on delivering that 5 GW of offshore wind energy. That said, we want the highlight the opportunity that that target presents for the domestic supply chain. It is true that capital and resources are scarce but those projects will be built. The question that we would like to highlight today is whether they will be built from Irish ports and by Irish companies. That is why the establishment of a delivery task force on supply chain to try to produce an action plan is critical, so that as much of that potential and investment that we are going to see to deliver our 2030 targets remains within Ireland.

On whether the potential we are talking about is really for the export opportunity, we will need an enormous amount of electricity to service Ireland as we go towards 2050 and towards becoming a climate-neutral country. We did some analysis with UCC's MaREI centre looking at a zero-carbon economy for Ireland. It showed that electricity demand will triple between now and 2050, predominantly as we electrify heat and transport. We are going to need around 25 GW of offshore wind energy purely for our own domestic purposes before we even contemplate the export potential opportunity that we have off our west coast, which we believe to be equivalent to around 70 GW to 80 GW of capacity. The establishment of a hydrogen supply chain will be very important to that over time. We are not talking about purely direct electrification for everything. The electricity grid that we currently have is not capable of managing the level of energy that I have just spoken about. We will need hydrogen in order to decarbonise heat and transport, but the source and the base of that will be offshore wind energy. The more that we can establish our own supply chain, the better.

On the European side of things, currently, countries across Europe are trying to get off fossil fuels as quickly as possible, following the crisis in Ukraine. We are seeing countries right across Europe increasing their targets for offshore wind energy every week. Two years ago, the 2030 offshore wind target in Europe was 60 GW. Just two weeks ago there was an announcement that Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands will be developing 65 GW by themselves between now and 2030. Right across Europe, we are hearing that supply chain constraints are a big challenge. All the countries will need to pool together their resources and supply chains if we are to have any chance of meeting Europe's target. I will refer to my colleague, Ms O'Connell, to respond to the Deputy's question on Scotland.