Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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Going back to the point of the State taking proper capital investment, it is a really missed opportunity. We only need to look at Corrib gas and see where it was held up, and at what we did with oil 30 years ago with licensing and the pittance that we go out of that. Talking about offshore wind as an asset, whether it is an asset or otherwise, it will not be an asset if the State is purely a consumer and taking a bid price, when we do not know where that bid price will fall. Obviously, it will be a question of the licensing and the award of licences and all the rest. I would say to the Minister, that it is being done in Scotland and there is opportunity for the Government to invest, rather than putting all of our money into rainy day funds in the future, it is raining now in the context of energy and we should be making an investment. We should be making a State investment, and have State equity and ownership regarding offshore wind development.