Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the south coast DMAP. This has been quite some time coming. After 15 months, we finally have a plan for offshore wind on the south coast of our island. It is Ireland's first spatial plan for offshore wind and identifies four maritime areas off the south coast for offshore wind development over the next decade. It is welcome.

Offshore renewable energy represents a momentous opportunity not just for Waterford, Cork and Wexford, but for the entire island. It has the potential to generate €3 billion and 32,000 jobs for local economies over the lifetime of the offshore wind projects. Furthermore, it represents a significant step towards reducing our emissions and achieving Irish energy independence.

It is my party's ambition, through the roll-out of renewables, in particular offshore wind, for Ireland to become a net exporter of renewable energy so that our vast natural resources can be translated into national wealth for all. I want to recognise the significant initial steps being taken today towards that goal. It is an initial step that has taken some time to deliver. I want to make it clear that we cannot wait another 15 months for the next DMAP.

Ireland can no longer sit on the sidelines when we sit on the biggest natural offshore wind resource in all of Europe, with some 640 GW of untapped energy potential. While other countries such as Portugal, Scotland, Denmark, Finland, Spain, France and Germany forged ahead, Ireland all but stood still. There have been decades of bad planning, mismanagement and inaction, with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael at the wheel and so much lost opportunity. Ireland cannot continue to squander that opportunity.

Meeting our 2050 target of 37 GW of offshore wind could be worth €38 billion to our economy. It is now widely recognised, however, that the Government's efforts will see Ireland missing our 2030 targets. The fact is that there are serious barriers to progress, barriers this Government has created and seems determined not to correct. Our planning system is slow, adversarial and racked with uncertainty. These problems are so acute that many renewable energy projects fail to make it off the ground. For example, renewable projects are stuck in the planning system for an average of 92 weeks. For a period of more than 14 months, no new project was approved. Alarmingly, the situation is set to get even worse with the Bill that the Government pushed through last night.

To address this, Sinn Féin would undo the damage the planning Bill is set to do. We would also increase the resourcing of State bodies like MARA, An Bord Pleanála, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and local authorities and produce agreed workforce plans between them to address staff shortages. We would ensure alignment between county development policy and national policy for onshore wind and move towards a plan-led approach for solar energy.

Grid constraints as a barrier to Ireland's green energy revolution are a reality. Ireland's electricity grid is not fit for purpose. It is barely managing to cope with its current load and is certainly not fit to handle the ambition of creating an energy-secure and independent Ireland. Since 2016, constraint levels in the north west, for example, have risen from 2.3% to 11.4%. In the west, it has risen from 0.3% to 8.8%, while in the north we have seen the highest level of constraints, going from 2.3% in 2016 to 14.6% in 2023.

This is all lost energy that could have been used to cook meals, run milking parlours, charge cars or even just boil the kettle. Instead, these wind farms had to stop generating or reduce generation and that electricity came from gas. The greater the increase in constraints on our grid, the more carbon emissions we produce and the higher our bills become because of the gas generation brought on stream to replace the constrained wind farms. This is only set to get worse as we attempt to get more renewables on the system. Unlike this Government, Sinn Féin has a plan to address this with our renewable energy investment fund. We would increase investment in our grid. We would also invest in energy storage and issue a national policy statement on that.

Ireland's port infrastructure presents yet another significant challenge when it comes to hitting our 2030 offshore targets. As it stands, there is only one port on the island, namely, Belfast Harbour, with the capacity to deliver offshore renewable energy, ORE, infrastructure. Over the past two years, however, it has been completely taken over by projects from Britain. No other port is ready for offshore wind in Ireland, placing a large question mark over just how we are going to deliver on our targets. With our renewable energy investment fund, Sinn Féin would ramp up investment in Irish ports.

The renewable energy support scheme is an auction-based process that invites renewable energy projects to compete against one other to win contracts to provide electricity at a guaranteed price. As the Minister of State knows, there have been four onshore auctions to date, renewable electricity support scheme, RESS, 1 to 4, and just one for offshore wind, that is, offshore renewable electricity support scheme, ORESS 1. These auctions have been plagued with problems and are already regarded as yet another barrier to developing renewable energy here. Auctions are not happening in the timeline set out by the Government, nor are they delivering the amount of power required to meet our 2030 targets. In addition, the prices they are setting are very high when compared with those in other European countries, meaning consumer bills will remain high. As these prices are index-linked, they are set to rise into the future. We hear from developers the need for a drum beat of auctions but we are not seeing that. I raised this with the senior Minister at committee recently.

As recently as July 2023, the Government aimed to hold ORESS 2.1 before the end of 2023, with final results in early 2024, or so it said. It seems likely, however, that the auction will not be held until the middle of 2025, with results taking a further few months. Planning applications then will not be submitted until late 2026. It is clear, therefore, that an urgent review is needed. Sinn Féin commits to predictable timelines for auctions that are not mired in constant delays. Without urgent change in the scale, pace and ambition for renewable energy, Ireland's aspiration to become a global leader in renewable energy will never become a reality. Sinn Féin's vision for renewable energy on this island represents this change. We have a plan and the political will to do this. We believe the renewable energy transition must be leveraged in a manner that delivers long-term social and economic benefits for families and communities across this island.

The DMAP put forward today is a significant development, which I welcome. A huge amount of work went into preparing these DMAPs and I acknowledge the significant consultation. When we on the Oireachtas committee met with representatives from the Department, we heard from political parties across the board about the need to move at pace in this regard. The need to get this right and to move further with DMAP is something the Minister of State will hear from all contributors who follow me.

It would be remiss of me not to raise the issue of the marine protected areas Bill. This is something that has to happen. These things should happen in parallel. It is deeply regrettable that more progress has not been made in that regard. I heard from the junior Minister with responsibility in this area last week and there were protests outside the Dáil. I commend Fair Seas and others that do really positive and good work in this area. They are an example of the type of collaborative approach we need to take in this area. We do need to see progress in that regard, however, and I hope to see it as soon as possible. It does not look like it is going to happen under this Government, which is deeply disappointing, but it is really important work for whoever takes up that mantle.

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