David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, for attending and the Office of the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this important Topical Issue. Cork Harbour has often been described as an energy hub. It has the Port of Cork, the National Maritime College of Ireland, a naval base, the ESB, Irving Oil, Deepwater Quay and so on. Last Thursday, members of the enterprise, trade and employment committee visited Cork Harbour as part of their work on examining offshore renewable energy, particularly offshore wind energy. We had a full brief from staff of the Port of Cork and its content alarmed me very much. As the Minister of State is probably aware and as the Department of Transport is certainly aware, two locations in Cork Harbour were earmarked as staging points for the construction of turbines to be moved offshore. One was the Port of Cork, at Ringaskiddy, and the other was Cork Dockyard in Cobh.

There are two types of offshore wind generation possible, one involving fixed-bottom turbines and the other involving floating turbines. I understand that floating turbines involve a longer-term project because other works have to be done on the technical side; however, many people had their hopes pinned on the fixed offshore system. It is now the case that Doyle Shipping Group, at the dockyard in Cobh, has decided for its own very good and understandable reasons not to get involved in this venture. This is a huge blow to the Cork area and the offshore wind project nationally. I understand the company is not willing to take the chance because it is a private company and because of the uncertainty of the market, the lack of financial aid to enable it to develop the facility to the required standard, and the bureaucracy that has emerged. The Port of Cork, on the other side of the harbour, is a semi-State company but it must operate on a commercial basis, meaning that it, like any other company, must borrow funds or generate funds from its own reserves to develop a facility to enable it to act as a base for offshore renewable energy provision. It needs to put in place two additional quay spaces, the cost of which is estimated to be €120 million. It is not possible for it to generate this itself, so I am here this evening to ask the Minister of State to let me know whether there is state aid available. I understand locations in other jurisdictions have availed of block exemptions in circumstances like these. Borrowing the money from the European Investment Bank could take over two years.

The Port of Cork has planning permission to develop the quayside. I understand other locations along the coast, both west and east, are quite a few years behind Cork in this regard. However, the planning permission is due to run out in October 2025, meaning work must be started by the last quarter of this year to ensure the company complies with current legislation. Getting an extension of planning permission can be very challenging. In the meantime, our competitors across Europe are forging ahead with offshore renewable energy projects and facilities. The Oireachtas enterprise committee members were in Belfast a while ago and saw it was very advanced in its preparations for the new assembly and construction of the components required to create the turbines needed.

A final piece of the jigsaw is the possibility of using adjacent IDA Ireland land. This would help. IDA Ireland is the largest landholder in Ringaskiddy and it has quite an amount of land that is not being used for anything else. It is adjacent to the Port of Cork facility in Ringaskiddy and if some of it could be used to displace cargo while turbines are being assembled and put in place, it would be a great help and benefit the whole project.

A final possibility is availing of the shared island fund, of which the Minister of State might be aware. Some €120 million is required, and without it the whole offshore renewable energy project in Cork will be gone. Confidence will be lost, nothing will happen and the considerable positive possibilities we were all talking about here and elsewhere will not be realised. I ask the Minister of State to use his good offices with the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and his Department to determine whether it would be possible to draw down some funding to allow the Port of Cork to proceed with its plans, which are the only game in town at the moment. If the work does not start by the last quarter of this year, the planning permission will run out and it will not be allowed to start. The other facility is off the table, so this is the only game in town. If it does not happen, we will have nothing.

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