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

First, I would like to say that I look forward to working with all Members of the House in this new brief and with the two other Ministers in the Department. As we have heard, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, is taking over the Department in terms of responding to questions this morning.

I am glad Deputy Naughten asked this question. My Department together with Enterprise Ireland are actively engaged in building the capacity in the indigenous sector for supply chain opportunities in the green energy and renewables sectors. With the support of my Department, Enterprise Ireland’s new sustainability department is examining the key emerging areas of opportunity in these sectors and how best to develop Ireland’s renewable energy sector on a basis of competitive advantage, including through the mechanism of business accelerators and-or incubator programmes.

The offshore wind industry, for example, has a significant regional employment potential and this is being exploited through the development of nine regional enterprise plans. The delivery of smart grid management systems, offshore wind energy and hydrogen for national industrial development and international markets is currently being explored as well, as the Deputy will know only too well. In the medium and longer term, Ireland will have excess renewable energy capability and enterprise policy should ensure domestic value-added opportunities are fully captured alongside energy exports. Hydrogen and decarbonised gas and stimulating domestic biomethane production should also be a critical component of Ireland’s energy ecosystem and decarbonisation pathway.

Building on and complementing the recently published White Paper on Enterprise 2022-2030, my Department is assessing how Ireland’s enterprise sector, both indigenous and foreign direct investment, FDI, will support the development of Ireland’s ambitions to deliver an offshore wind generation sector of significant scale. Part of that consideration will be how to capture the industrial development opportunities that would arise both in terms of exports and in developing appropriate supply chain strategies from co-locating renewable energy infrastructure, transport infrastructure and industrial energy demand and building clusters of economic activity in that regard. This is in accordance with the framework for enterprise policy for the period to 2030, as outlined in the White Paper, which was only launched in December. It is expected that actions aimed at developing indigenous supply chain capacity will be an integral part of these initiatives.

See this speech in context