Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree with both Deputies. I was giving the framework of what we are looking to do. Within that, however, it is critical that in the planning application process there is real public consultation and that it is an open, transparent and engaged process. Not every project will get planning permission. It is critical that there are community benefits and that all of the revenue does not just accrue to private developers. It is critical the State has a central role in the transmission network planning. There are revenues to the State from this. There will be further community benefit in a variety of ways. The operation and maintenance of these facilities will see a complete turnaround in Irish ports throughout the country. These will be typically smaller ports where it will bring economic life and jobs to them. There will be larger deployment ports in Cork, Shannon and Rosslare. They have huge industrial development potential, not only in the deployment of these turbines but also using the power when it comes back in. This includes the area of Dublin. It will become a regional balanced-development economic opportunity, particularly for the south east, south west, west and north west, as I said in the Chamber yesterday.

In this consultation, we have to make sure that what we do is within our environmental constraints and that we manage this carefully, particularly in terms of bird life and other marine life. We can get this balance right. We happen to have one of the windiest areas in the world. Our sea area is seven times our land area and the scale there gives us opportunities to optimise for local communities, as well as economic security for the country.

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