Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Is this to do with the nature of our shoreline? The Irish seabed drops off quite significantly. It would be useful if the Minister of State put on the record of the House his considerations regarding Deputy Boyd Barrett’s amendment. Much of the time, I find myself going two thirds of the way with Deputy Boyd Barrett. That is probably illustrative of how broad the left spectrum is. I agree with him on some fronts but not on all. With two thirds of the points he makes, and two thirds of the content of his amendment, the Labour Party and I would agree, especially regarding mineral extraction. The Deputy’s view on liquid natural gas is very much ad idemwith the Labour Party’s policy, but I have concerns about imposing the kinds of constraints he is seeking to introduce on planning for turbines. It seems to me that even the reference to five turbines or 5 MW is quite random. I am not quite sure what the justification is. When I was watching the debate on the monitor in my office earlier, I heard the Deputy say it is an effort to try to restrict industrial turbine operations, as I believe he described them, but I do not understand that. If we restricted them and accepted the merits of the amendment in the context of the restrictions concerning wind turbines, it would be practically impossible for us to meet our renewable energy targets. We certainly could not support that. It would be useful if the Minister of State could talk us through the nature of the Irish seabed and the kind of infrastructure we need to introduce there if we are to meet our renewable energy targets for wind energy.

My understanding is the bases of the kinds of turbines in question have to be 50 m to 60 m below the surface. The nature of the seabed in the Irish Sea limits us. As I understand it, we do not have the required technology yet to introduce the kinds of floating turbine platforms envisaged elsewhere. Therefore, it would be unwise to restrict ourselves in the way Deputy Boyd Barrett is proposing. Clearly, he has concerns about the impact of some planned projects off the coast of his constituency. It is fair to say there are concerns in my constituency over certain planned projects, but while taking account of some genuine concerns that might be expressed, for example, by those involved in the fishing industry, whose points on turbines I hope can be addressed, we must take a comprehensive and holistic view of renewable energy infrastructure. While I accept and support the points Deputy Boyd Barrett is making on mineral extraction and the infrastructure supporting liquid natural gas, it would be unwise to proceed on the basis he is proposing in the context of wind turbines.

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