Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was not involved but I was certainly watching very closely from the sidelines when I was Co-Chair of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly when the agreement went to a memorandum of understanding between the British and Irish Governments. There was momentum behind the movement towards a bilateral agreement between the UK and Ireland. That did not happen and that conversation is off until 2018 or post-2020.

Between now and then, we must be creative in our ways of doing things. We should not, as an island nation, rely solely on the UK as a potential partner. We should be looking at the likes of France and other creative options. How far advanced are universities in their research in terms of tidal energy and how does that affect getting foreshore licences? We need to look at the entire mix and I am certainly prepared to work with the Deputy on this issue. If we are going to be moving to a period of time where resources will become scarce, we need to be ahead of the posse and work closely with the European Commission on these matters.

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