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

I would say officially that everything is hunky-dory between the different Departments. In this case the relationships are good. There are a number of different Departments, including the Department of housing and planning, which has effectively designed and produced the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, and An Bord Pleanála, which will soon be a planning commission, has played a role in making decisions offshore. There is a role for the Department of Transport, which needs to get port infrastructure in place quickly. The potential funding of some of that has to involve public expenditure and potentially the Department Finance. There are climate targets that need to be met, driven by the Department of climate.

My Department will be looking at the opportunities from an enterprise perspective, as well as the challenges of building this infrastructure and the employment potential. The Department of research and third-level education is looking at the skill sets. The list goes on and on. This is about reorienting the Irish economy around a different type of energy which, in my view, has enormous opportunity attached to it for the west of Ireland, in particular. This is particularly true post 2030 but there is also some opportunity before 2030, which is why the Shannon Estuary task force has contributed significantly to that and to other aspirations on the west coast. There is, therefore, much opportunity there and we are working hard to make sure we co-ordinate it all.

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