Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I am glad the Minister is thinking in terms of the super grid that was proposed in the past by people such as Eddie O'Connor and others, whereby countries would agree to work together to build very large scale offshore generation capacity that would interconnect electricity grids of different European countries with a view to providing green energy and security of supply. I encourage the Minister to progress this, while obviously taking into account the potential cost to the Exchequer and to energy users and endeavouring to keep down that cost.

My specific intent with this question relates to the Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security, chaired by Deputy Seán Barrett. Deputies McManus, Coonan and I are members of that committee. We spent a great deal of time putting together new legislation of which the Minister is aware. It would facilitate the fast tracking of a planning process for significant offshore energy projects. Has the Minister looked at that legislation? Will he use it as the basis for new legislation that might reduce the period from time of application to time of building? There is enormous frustration at present among those in the industry concerning the length of time it takes to get permission to build offshore. 4 o'clock

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