Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are military-civil conversations going on all the time between the Defence Forces and the Department of Defence in terms of prioritising capital spend. There are plenty of conversational opportunities in terms of prioritising sub-sea surveillance systems, if that is what the Naval Service wants to do, but we need to do it together with it. In terms of anticipating what the maritime security challenges will be in 2030, that is taking place. I am very familiar with the plans for offshore wind development on the south coast and east coast, and on the west coast as well. If we have a very significant offshore wind presence by 2030, that is a good problem in terms of the need for us to respond to its security, because we will be producing very large amounts of energy offshore, which is exactly what we need to be doing from a sustainability perspective. I suspect that it certainly will be part of our capital expenditure plan and resourcing up to 2030 for the Naval Service.

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