Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister's determination is laudable but I wonder what will triumph when it meets the inertia of the Department of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. There is little coming from the Government. It acknowledges what needs to be done but we all know what needs to be done. That is why we put a task force together. The reality is that it is not happening. Even the industrial wind strategy from the Minister's Department lacks specifics with regard to what will happen on the west coast, not to mention the other plans the Government is coming up with, which fail to prioritise wind energy. I heard the Taoiseach express similar determination when he described it as Ireland's "moonshot". That rhetoric is completely unmatched by the reality of what is not happening on the ground and what needs to happen on the ground. With respect, the ground in which we need to see development is the mid-west if we are to harness wind energy, and floating wind energy in particular, off the west coast. We need to do it now.

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