Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 15 June 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Offshore Renewable Industry Forum and Ireland’s Offshore Wind Industry: Discussion

Mr. Justin Moran:

I will deal with that question. At the moment, a number of our members in those areas are engaging with those regional economic strategies. They are engaging particularly with councils, for example, on their plans for developing. They are looking at how wind energy can be part of that. We are also finding a real enthusiasm from the regional economic groups, regional assemblies and county councils who want to be involved in it. We are not encountering resistance there. It is an open door. They see the potential that will be in their geographic locations.

That is driven more by groups of members in various areas, rather than by Wind Energy Ireland. To be honest, from our perspective, that is a capacity issue. We would love to be more involved in that, but we are focused on the national view. Our members are focused very much on areas such as Shannon, Cork and Wexford, where companies are coming together to work with existing regional local apparatuses. This is to see if, for example, there is to be port in Rosslare, what benefits will come out of that for all of the enterprise opportunities in Wexford and in the south east. Members are actively involved in doing that.