Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 15 July 2025

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Fisheries and Maritime Affairs

Planning Challenges in Offshore Renewable Energy: Discussion

2:00 am

Manus Boyle (Fine Gael)
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I reiterate what Deputy Mac Lochlainn and Senator O'Reilly said: at the end of the day, the fishers are the ones who need to be looked after here. That is very important.

I have two quick questions. Why did the Sceirde Rocks project not proceed? Financially, what is the difference between floating and fixed? Is there a massive difference money-wise between the cost of doing the two options? Fixed is probably the cheapest off the north coast now. Am I right in saying that floating is probably about ten years away? There are people looking at it and universities trying to diversify and see what can be done with it.