Mr. Gary Tobin:

I thank the Cathaoirleach and the committee for inviting us here today. We are aware the committee is very interested in this policy area and we note the recent report from the committee on offshore renewable energy.

We welcome the opportunity to discuss with the committee today Powering Prosperity – Ireland’s Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy. I am joined today by my colleague Mr. Jack McDermot from the offshore wind strategy unit in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

The committee will be aware that the programme for Government and the White Paper on enterprise both have a focus on the twin green and digital transition. The White Paper also identifies offshore wind as a key opportunity for Ireland. To build on this, a memo for Government proposing the development of an industrial strategy for offshore wind was brought forward on 9 May 2023 and the powering prosperity strategy has been developed in line with that Government decision.

Within weeks of the Government's decision, the new offshore wind strategy unit was created in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and work commenced on the stakeholder engagement and fact-finding phase of the strategy, which concluded in November. Powering Prosperity was then approved by the Government on 5 March and published a little more than a month ago on 8 March.

In developing the strategy, we noted the committee's recent report on offshore renewable energy, which was also published in March, and specifically its recommendations regarding the supports that are needed for the offshore renewable energy industry, the opportunity for both fixed and floating wind, the development of an offshore wind delivery task force and a greater focus on domestic job growth. We believe that many of the recommendations in the committee's report are reflected in our strategy.

The vision at the core of Powering Prosperity is to build a successful, vibrant, impactful offshore wind industry and ensure the industry creates value for the people of Ireland by the end of this decade. We will target four core areas, namely: the supply chain - both domestic and international; research, development and innovation; balanced regional economic development; and future demand end uses.

Powering Prosperity also clearly sets out ten ambitions that Ireland will aim to achieve by 2030: first, to develop an innovative enterprise ecosystem with indigenous and multinational companies; to dramatically upscale the enterprise base that will serve as the offshore wind sector in Ireland and hopefully around the world; to deliver up to 5,000 jobs in the offshore wind industry; to maximise opportunities for companies and investors; to pro-actively assist enterprise workers and the research and development ecosystem; to seek to establish an offshore wind centre of excellence and a new floating offshore wind demonstrator in order to support growth and innovation; to pursue strategic partnerships with like-minded countries; to work with stakeholders to develop world-class property solutions powered by renewable energy; to develop major industrial hubs around key deployment, operations and maintenance ports in collaboration with other Departments; and finally, and perhaps most importantly, to transform Ireland's regional capability. These ambitions are supported by 40 actions, which are set out in the strategy and are to be delivered in 2024 and 2025.

In terms of how we produced the strategy, Powering Prosperity is the result of a strong consultation process between the Department, our enterprise agencies and stakeholders. Both agencies provided us with industry contacts who were extremely generous in their observations and technical input. We also collaborated intensively with other Departments and agencies, particularly via the offshore wind delivery task force, which was chaired by our colleagues in the Department of energy. Indeed, the actions of Powering Prosperity effectively function as the actions for workstream 7 of the offshore wind delivery task force.

We would like to put on the record our thanks to our colleagues and stakeholders who assisted us in developing the strategy. Overall, the reception of the strategy has been positive. For example, Wind Energy Ireland warmly welcomed it and committed to working with us to ensure the benefits from our offshore wind revolution. We will now turn to the implementation of the strategy with an ambitious programme of work already under way for 2024 and 2025. Our Department and its agencies will continue to collaborate with our colleagues across Government, with industry and with other national and international stakeholders. We will drive implementation by reporting to the offshore wind delivery task force and working closely with our own Department’s offshore wind industry forum, and of course, the enterprise agencies. We will publish regular reports on the progress of the strategy.

We look forward to assisting the committee with its deliberations. We are happy to take questions.