Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)

Regarding MARA, which I established in my previous Ministry, it has statutory timeframes for decision-making. The problem is it is not leading them. That is a problem. It is working towards that. That means the connection policy from EirGrid will also be published on time. I attend the offshore wind energy task force and, for the first time, I brought this sector into the room. Therefore, it is not just Government agencies. We have brought in the development sector and it is at all of the meetings. Instead of people writing back and forth to each other, or attending separate meetings, everything is dealt with in the room. That urgency is there. Certainly, the request for further information from the board, without straying into the planning process, was a frustration but it is an independent process that we need to, and do, respect.

As these come out of planning, our big focus has to be to get them into construction. While we are doing that, we are in the middle of our second auction, which I believe there has been good interest in. I intend to bring the results of that auction, once I receive them, to Cabinet in early December. I think that will show where Ireland is able to be successful with auctions where, unfortunately, other European partners are not at the moment.

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