Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Sherlock will be following Deputy Howlin. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. As we know, it provides a legislative framework for a new streamlined development consent process for activities in the maritime area, including offshore renewable projects. As has been said many times in this debate, our sea area is seven times the size of our land mass. As an island nation with one of the largest seabed territories in Europe, this Bill will be essential in shaping the future of marine areas and developing a spatial strategy for that entire area. If done correctly, it will help scale up our renewable energy capacity and protect our coastal communities and marine habitats while also providing a foundation for what need to be sustainable fishing and tourism sectors.

As have others, I note that environmental NGOs such as An Taisce, the Irish Wildlife Trust and the Sustainable Water Network, in addition to some in our inshore fishing community, have voiced their dissatisfaction with the prior consultation process. As far as they are concerned, this has not adequately considered many of the issues they have raised in the required depth. However, we are well aware, particularly in the context of the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, that we cannot delay any longer with regard to the development of renewable energy, such as offshore wind. That sector will be enabled by this unprecedented legislation. That being said, good consultation is always key, as I hope the Minister would accept, as is parliamentary scrutiny. I know the Minister will understand and appreciate that and will engage with the committee on amendments and so on.

The Labour Party supports the thrust of this Bill, especially with regard to the need to address the current lack of cohesion around Ireland's marine planning consent regimes and the confusion and duplication this causes. Anybody who represents a coastal community or constituency will understand the concerns people have and the problems that have arisen in respect of the range of different agencies and organisations involved, the planning consents and so on and how these affect economic and environmental development in our coastal areas.

We are also conscious that the passing of this Bill with appropriate amendments will be essential in helping Ireland to reach its climate action and renewable energy targets, particularly in enabling the scaling-up of offshore renewable energy.

To achieve our climate action goals, we will have to lean heavily on renewable energy and offshore wind energy will play an enormous part in that. Ireland needs to harness its potential to be a world leader in wind energy as part of a broader new industrial strategy, aside from meeting our climate action targets. The case of Denmark, a similar-sized country, is illustrative. Since the oil crisis in the 1970s, the Danes have invested heavily to become world leaders in wind energy and turbine production, having the world's largest wind turbine industry with 90% of its output exported. Consequently, the country has the highest proportion of wind power in the world, accounting for a little under half of its total electricity consumption. This has drastically cut its carbon emissions and decreased citizens' energy bills and the country's dependence on imported fossil fuels, which are subject to geopolitical and price instability.

We need to take this example as a model of best practice and apply it here. If we are ambitious enough, Ireland can become the next superpower in renewable energy and produce up to 5,000 MW of offshore wind energy by 2030. Wind power has the potential to transform our country in a similar way to how oil transformed the economies of the Gulf states. Respected economists have written and commented about this. We have the potential to achieve energy independence and become an exporter of clean power to the EU grid. If we are to achieve this, we must have a national strategy that does not allow us to fall prey to the so-called resource paradox we have seen in other resource-rich countries, wherein strategic assets are sold off and privatised without any public gain.

A significant part of the emergence of the Danish wind success story was the birth of local community wind co-operatives. For instance, Denmark requires 20% of all renewable energy projects to be offered to local communities with 67% of onshore wind energy coming from citizen-owned parks in 2016. Such wind farm developments, whether onshore or offshore, work best when there is active stakeholder consultation and participation and community involvement from beginning to end and where local communities benefit directly and indirectly from the sites.

I urge the Minister and Government to examine the Danish experience in the context of this Bill and of broader Government policy to strengthen community involvement, co-ownership and acceptance of offshore wind projects. While the need for offshore renewable energy and energy security is clear, we also have to strive to protect the delicate ecology of our seas. Our climate and biodiversity crises are inextricably linked. As a recent joint report from the UN's leading climate change and biodiversity bodies stated, we can either solve both crises or solve neither.

The Labour Party has been at the forefront of biodiversity protection along with climate action. In our latest manifesto we made a clear promise to set up maritime conservation zones to allow Irish fish stocks to recover. Such marine protected areas are necessary and are obligatory under the EU's maritime spatial planning directive, which states that countries must have an ecosystems-based, sustainable approach in respect of marine planning frameworks. The process of scaling up designation of MPAs in Ireland to 30% of maritime area over the next decade is welcome. As it stands, however, as was referenced earlier, there is minimal participation of Ireland seas, covering just over 10,000 sq. km. At just 2% of Ireland's total maritime area of nearly 500,000 sq. km, this is among the lowest in the world. We are falling short of our international and commitments in this regard. Significant concerns have been expressed by environmental experts on this issue, particularly about the incredibly slow progress by Government until now in the context of marine protected areas. Professor Crowe of the UCD Earth Institute stated: "Current Irish legislation does not define MPAs and is limited in its ability to enable the conservation of many of Ireland’s threatened or important species, habitats and other marine features of biological or cultural significance." His report concludes, and this view is shared by other experts and environmental groups, that Ireland's network of protected areas "cannot be considered coherent, representative, connected or resilient or to be meeting Ireland’s international commitments and legal obligations."

We know from the experience of other EU countries that such legislation may take two to three years to pass, be enacted and come into effect. I urge Government to strengthen and implement any interim measures it can to protect areas of the marine environment in the meantime. I extend my party's support to this Bill. We look forward to proposing more detailed amendments on the issues I raised and those that others may raise in this debate at later stages of the legislative process.

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