Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I suspect that this is a conversation we could have for a number of hours as opposed to a number of minutes. I wish to refer to a comment that was made by the previous Chief of Staff, retired Vice Admiral Mark Mellett. He said: "Ireland has a 'false sense of security' and the State needs to position itself to deal with the gathering problems caused by climate change." Specifically, on the Government's commitment to offshore renewable energy generation by 2030 and the proposed development of the offshore wind farms, be it around Cork Harbour or the east coast, the security and monitoring responsibility will ultimately find its way into our Naval Service. Has any work been done to identify the primary and secondary needs of the Naval Service to be able to address those future needs? The year 2030 will come around very quickly. Before we know where we are there will be another general election and then it will be 2030. As Deputy John Brady stated, when we visited Cork naval base as a committee, one of the issues raised was the ability to be able to see underneath our seas. Going back to the future development by the Government of offshore wind farms, the question is what capabilities have been identified as primary and secondary for the Naval Service?

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