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

I believe we can, and will. It is not just 2030 that is the key milestone. The reality is that the real big prize is a significant development on the west, north-west and south-west coasts, in our sea areas and sometimes our land areas, where we have some of the highest wind speeds in the world. The development of these coasts are very important. We need that to help power our economy and our country, and to help lower the cost of energy. It is very welcome that we now have greater clarity that the auction process works and that we can go further. The biggest constraint, in much of this, is environmental planning. Environmental planning is very complex. We do not have a strong record in that area in this country historically. We have not put sufficient resources into the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS. In Europe, we were rightly held up for not having all the required designated wildlife areas on land and at sea. The process is still ongoing and we have to manage the development of offshore winds within that. Often, there are complex competing objectives in terms of maritime environmental protection, climate advance and so on. I believe we can get that right. As we ramp up the NPWS and start to take our environment and the designation of areas within that much more seriously, that will allow us to meet the big long-term objectives.

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