Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with what Deputy Murphy said about the importance of offshore renewable energy. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is present and I can attest to his passion and commitment to ensuring this is rolled out. Any funding provided to ports can only be a contribution towards the costs and would have to be in compliance with state aid rules. It is envisaged that this would require a competition and it would then be up to the ports to apply for any funding that might become available after preparation of a comprehensive business case. In this context, ports would have to engage directly with industry on specific requirements and investment costs. My Department is also meeting with other ports and administrations to establish best practice in this regard in Europe. We are looking at how other countries have done this. There is ongoing engagement between the Departments of Transport, the Environment, Climate and Communications and Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

In addition, there is direct engagement with the offshore renewable energy sector and other relevant stakeholders to explore the mechanisms of investment required for this infrastructure.

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