David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I wish to raise two issues. The Minister spoke about the global footprint and the great work going on with Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland and so on, which is laudable and is world-class. Recently I have been involved with Canada. Ireland has a presence in the east and the west but not in the centre. Has the Department looked at a presence for IDA Ireland in Calgary, for example, or Edmonton, which are two of the big cities in Canada? The staff on the ground in the east of that country are doing good work but it is a long way over there. These are very prosperous and industrial places with very strong economic bases. This is just something to put out there. As I have said previously here, I feel that while we have a lot of people working in the US, there is a gap there. Perhaps the Minister and the Department would explore this with a view to opening a permanent office in that part of the world.

In March, the Department launched the offshore wind powering prosperity strategy. I have gone through it and it is extraordinarily ambitious. It is very well put together and very comprehensive. I congratulate the authors of it. There is a snag, however, in that offshore wind depends on a venue where companies can assemble the turbine, carry out research, do maintenance and have a service base. At the moment in the Republic, we have no such place. When the committee members visited Belfast, we discovered that they are way ahead of us in that regard. We also visited Cork. We were told that the Port of Cork is the only port in Ireland that has planning permission but it cannot expand because it has no money. I have brought this matter up again and again. The powering prosperity strategy could actually falter if we do not have a space where we can assemble turbines. This is hugely important for enterprise. There are thousands of potential jobs available and I am worried they might go elsewhere and be lost to Ireland unless we can get our act together. I was told that planning permission runs out at the end of next year and they may not be able to get planning permission again to expand. I have brought this up time and again in the Chamber with other Ministers but it is really under the remit of this Department because of the job potential and the industrial potential. If we lose this, it will be a real tragedy.

Related to this and directly impinging on the Department is the need for the port to expand but not only by building on extra to the quay side. The port authorities have approached IDA Ireland because the agency has land close by to the port. The port wanted to lease some that land for a limited period so it could expand. Will the Minister, the Department and the officials present engage with IDA Ireland and with the port to see if it is possible to make that happen.? It would be a huge benefit to enable our offshore renewable energy sector to develop. There are two issues. The port itself has to expand by building on, for which they have planning but no funding. The Minister might go back to his Cabinet colleagues and ask about that. It is hugely important. What if this does not happen? The Doyle Shipping Group has pulled out from this sector because of the uncertainty.

They are not there. Nowhere else in the Republic has planning permission to do this. My concern is that all the potential for jobs will be offshore. We were told in Belfast that to tow one of these turbines cost €250,000 per day. If they are towed from France or Wales, it is not going to be economically viable. All these grand ideas, plans and so on could go up in smoke unless we get our act together. This is really serious and it needs action at ministerial level and senior departmental level.

Those were the two issues I wanted to raise. They relate to the Canada question, which I would like the Minister to consider, and the IDA Ireland land in Cork and the need for the port to expand as a matter of urgency, with Government assistance and funding to make that happen.