Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to support the Bill. The merits of the Bill speak for themselves and it should be roundly supported in the House. I want to make a number of points. A new strategy paper is to be published later this month on offshore wind. I hear there will be segregation between anchored east coast offshore wind turbines versus their floating counterparts off the Atlantic coastline. This is understandable. They are two very different pieces of infrastructure. With regard to their progression through the regulatory system, MARA and the planning regime, I hear the anchored turbines will be fast tracked while the floating turbines will be slowed down. This would be a retrograde step because we have incredible potential off the Atlantic coastline. Many diplomatic staff from other countries have been wearing a path to Leinster House lauding how incredible this would be in meeting energy targets for the European Union and for greening the Irish economy. The potential it has is incredible. At present, wind projects offshore in the Atlantic worth €78 billion are in the pipeline.

Behind some of those projects are some massive, global, heavy-hitting companies. If we are going to have them sit back a little while the east coast progresses, it would be a retrograde step and would send out the wrong signals. There is a worry that the companies, along with the investment, would move to and set up in another windy part of Europe. We must seize this opportunity and not have a two-tier system. If there is a project that can progress, let it progress. The Minister should not take a two-tier approach to this.

I refer to the issue of offshore wind and how equipped our Irish ports are to meet the infrastructure needs of those project. I recently attended a meeting in Leinster House where I discovered we are not that well equipped at all in our port system for developing and bringing onto site the infrastructure required for offshore wind. Other European nations had not only an offshore strategy but an onshore strategy to ensure they could build the best quality equipment and infrastructure and to tow it into place. The worry is that if we do not quickly get to that pace in Ireland, our offshore turbines will be constructed in Rotterdam, Bremen and Hamburg, and they will tow them onto site.

There are two phases to this, both of which are equally lucrative. Phase 2 is generating this huge volume of offshore wind energy, using it domestically and selling it to our counterparts in continental Europe, which is very lucrative. However, phase 1 is the economy around building an offshore network of wind energy and I do not know whether we are moving at the pace to provide that. It would be a shame to see other European countries rush in to build the infrastructure when we probably would have the ability to do so if we had a strategy to pull these last few elements together.

With regard to renewable energy, we have an exciting project in Shannon, which the Minister is supportive of. The old fuel farms that were developed adjacent to Shannon Airport in the 1970s will hopefully be converted into hydrogen storage hubs soon. All the wind energy generated off the west coast of County Clare, brought ashore at Moneypoint, will be transferred to a hydrogen storage facility at Shannon, the potential of which is incredible. We need to push that out a little bit further because, using leaving certificate science, if nitrogen is added to hydrogen, one ends up with ammonia, which is a far more stable fuel to export, put into tankers and bring all over the world. An Oireachtas joint committee, of which I am a member, recently travelled to the Netherlands to look at where they were at in respect of sustainable travel and renewables, etc. It is not just hydrogen; they also have an ammonia strategy. This is how it will be brought around internationally as a more stable fuel that can be exported. I would love to see an additional layer put on top of those plans, at Moneypoint and Shannon, to ensure not just the production of raw hydrogen but that we have an exportable, stable and safe ammonia fuel that can be brought around.

Several Deputies mentioned public transport, of which the Minister is a great advocate. I travelled to the Dáil on the train this morning, which I do as often as I can. It is a fantastic way to travel, but it takes an inordinate time and a lot of expense to construct a rail system. Someone recently told me that five buses equal one train. A bus can be provided quickly. It does not have to follow a linear route of railway lines set down in the 1800s, or lines that are soon to be built at an extraordinary cost. Buses are a quick and cheaper way of getting the tentacles of public transport into the smallest rural communities and the most densely developed urban communities. Buses need to feature more in our strategy.

I would like to comment on the wind energy guidelines, which I mentioned earlier in the Chamber today. They are grossly outdated. They date back to 2008. They were being overhauled in 2019, a draft version of which was brought before the Houses of the Oireachtas in December 2019. Along came the general election in January 2020 and Covid immediately afterwards. A series of events have caught up with us and we find ourselves three years out from when they were to be agreed, but that is not so important. It is 15 years since these guidelines were formulated. They are outdated. They are outdated to a person who wants to develop wind energy, and they are equally outdated to a community that feels there has been a proliferation of wind turbines around them and does not have sufficient protection. They are outdated on many fronts. If the guidelines were to see the light of day now, they would probably no longer relate to the level at which technology is now because they were formulated in 2019. This is not good enough. We have heard time and again that they are ready to go. They need to be agreed. I once heard they were on the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien's, desk. I believe they could now be on the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan's, desk. When he is wrapping up, I would love to know where these guidelines are at and when do we hope to implement them.

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