Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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First, can I say a little about offshore wind? Many people, when they hear the debate about offshore wind, see this in the context of a climate change challenge and the need to produce clean energy to reduce emissions. That is only half the story, because we need to do that. However. what many people do not realise is that we are about to see what is effectively an energy revolution in Ireland over the next decade or so take shape. What that opens up in terms of economic development and enterprise is potentially significant in terms of Ireland's position globally as a place for international business location. The Shannon Estuary, for example, has the best grid connection in the country through two 400 kV lines out of Moneypoint. If we can bring 3 GW, 4 GW, 8 GW or 10 GW of power from the Atlantic Ocean into the Shannon Estuary then that location is likely to be a location for a significant cluster of industry that is potentially high-energy usage in terms of manufacturing, whether manufacturing chips or other forms of technology.

It is likely to be a location for high-end data centres that are driven by clean power. The demand for clean and green electricity in the future is going to be a determining factor in where global businesses locate. In truth, the companies themselves, both because of board decisions and demands through regulation, will be requiring high energy use industries to source clean energy in the future. In many ways, the race is on in terms of Ireland being one of the first movers in Europe to actually produce excess energy from clean sources like wind and offshore energy. Today there is about 28 GW worth of offshore fixed and floating projects that are at some stage of planning or proposal. That is about €80 billion in capital investment, just to put a context around this, entirely funded by the private sector. That is thousands of jobs around the Irish coastline, on the north-west coast, the west coast, in the south west, south and south east. Ports like Cork and Foynes and potentially places like Rosslare, Killybegs, Galway and Arklow could be part of servicing and building this offshore infrastructure.

People think of this as a climate change measure. It is that, and that is very important, but what my Department is now thinking about is how we play our part in facilitating that necessary change in how we generate electricity but also the industrial strategy, how we attract investment from abroad and build Irish businesses out of Ireland on the back of abundant amounts of clean power coming onshore. We have to think about how we export the power, whether that is through hydrogen, ammonia or interconnection and how we build industries around that in terms of hydrogen production and so on. Many of these offshore firms will effectively be harvesting hydrogen, using the wind to do that. This is a really exciting space. It is of course about reducing emissions and decarbonising our economy but it is also an economy in itself with regard to growth, expansion and job creation. That will require significant skills, planning, permitting systems, environmental assessment procedures and marine spatial planning.

The management of this from a State perspective is a huge challenge. The State is the only obstacle to the growth of the sector because the private sector is lining up to deliver this. The proof of that is elsewhere. Scotland and Portugal are both well ahead of us with these technologies and opportunities. Ireland needs to catch up and overtake them. I know the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications is really focused on delivering this as an energy Minister but I as an enterprise Minister have to back that up and make sure we are working in the same space so we can create momentum for investment and certainty for investors around timelines. We have to do that to ensure we do not lose that opportunity for investment to countries like Portugal, Scotland or, increasingly, France and others in the space.

The Irish economy of 2030 will very much be driven by the success we have in this space with offshore, and to a certain extent onshore, wind and solar but driven in particular by offshore wind. That is why it is important that we get to the 5 GW, or potentially 7 GW including hydrogen, by 2030 and that we ensure fixed and floating is part of those plans so we can release this potential. At the same time, we must ensure there is a regulatory environment and environmental assessment procedure that reassures the public that this is being done properly. We as a State have not developed this industry at the pace over the last ten years that we should have been able to do. We are trying to catch up now and I think we are very lucky to have the Minister, Deputy Ryan, at the helm of that. I and my Department want to work with him to make that potential happen as quickly as we can.

I hear what the Chairman is saying about location and business parks. Analog is an amazing company. I have met with its representatives and had a pretty in-depth discussion. It is a really dynamic company that wants to do a lot more in Ireland and we want to help it do that. What we are seeing outside Limerick is the clustering of big industry, a bit like what we have seen in Cork with the pharmaceutical industry and the tech sector. That is positive because we are creating real counterbalances to Dublin in terms of scale of investment, which is exactly what we need if we are going to fulfil the potential of our national spatial strategy, which is not about continuing a Dublin-dominated economy. It is about spreading that investment and growth, urbanisation and population growth outside of the environs and commuter belt of Dublin.

I take the point about low-carbon travel, public transport networks, rail systems, walking and cycling. A good example of that can be seen in Cork at the moment. Looking at the focus on development in east Cork along the Cork to Midleton and Cork to Cobh train line, that is busier than it has ever been. It is now seen effectively as a sort of Cork version of the DART, although I do not think we should call it the CART. It is busier than it has ever been and we are planning to electrify that line and add a whole series of new stations to turn it into a busy, successful commuter rail system. That can then feed into the kind of vision the Chairman has for low-carbon travel to business parks that employ very large numbers of people. It will not always be possible to do that in certain parts of the country that also need the benefit of business parks but where we can, we should be trying to encourage a link to public transport, in particular rail, and cycling and walking. We are seeing some good examples of that at the moment.