David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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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.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this question today. I am answering on behalf of the Minister for Transport.

It should be recognised that with its vast coastline and strong winds, Ireland has the opportunity to harness clean and renewable energy from offshore wind. This will not only reduce our emissions from electricity but also allow us to electrify and reduce our emissions in the transport sector across all modes while also reducing emissions in other sectors. Ireland has set an ambitious target of achieving 5 GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030, with a further 2 GW to be developed, this being earmarked for the production of green hydrogen and other non-grid uses.

As set out in the programme for Government and the Climate Action Plan 2023, the Government has a target to deliver 37 GW of offshore wind by 2050. This represents a massive development opportunity which will maximise the economic benefits at both regional and national level, with job creation and new small and medium enterprises in areas such as engineering, fabrication, transport and logistics, and other technologies.

As Deputy Stanton aware, it is recognised that there is a pressing need for Ireland to have the port capacity in place to support the development of offshore wind projects, which are vital to Ireland achieving climate change ambitions and the targets mentioned previously. A number of commercial State ports are currently progressing their plans for the provision of the required facilities to accommodate offshore renewable energy projects. This includes the Port of Cork, which has recently progressed plans to develop port infrastructure to meet the specific requirements of the offshore renewable energy sector at its Ringaskiddy facility. Once operational, the proposed development could be in a position to provide port infrastructure for marshalling and assembly for the phase 1 wind farm projects which were successful in last year's offshore renewable electricity support scheme, ORESS.

The Department of Transport engages regularly with the Port of Cork in meetings and by correspondence with respect to the port's proposed development at Ringaskiddy, both directly and also as part of the Department's regular corporate governance engagement. The Department's offshore renewable energy ports facilitation division, which was established a year ago, has visited the Port of Cork offices on a number of occasions, including twice in recent months.

In addition, officials from the Department of Transport continue to engage with all industry stakeholders with a view to maximising all financing opportunities available to Irish commercial State ports. This includes potential financing partners such as the European Union through the connecting Europe facility fund, Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and the European Investment Bank, EIB. I can confirm that the Port of Cork has applied for funding under the 2023 call for the EU's connecting Europe facility for its proposed development at Ringaskiddy. If successful, the Port of Cork can obtain up to 30% of its costs for the works. Officials in the Department of Transport assisted the port with the submission. The results of the call will be announced in June 2024. I am also pleased to announce that the Department of Transport has signed an advisory assignment with the European Investment Bank. The output of this work will be crucial in identifying how Irish ports will contribute to meeting our 2030 offshore wind targets. The Department of Transport will continue engagement with the Port of Cork with a view to supporting its proposed development at Ringaskiddy, where appropriate.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. I have brought up four issues. The Port of Cork in Ringaskiddy is the only show in town after the Doyle Shipping Group withdrew from the offshore renewable energy project. Some €120 million is needed to build a quay space to support offshore renewable energy in Cork. The idea that land could also be used for space for cargo, freeing up valuable space for the construction of turbines, and the shared island fund could also be explored, with the possibility of some of that funding being used to assist the port to develop these badly needed facilities.

The Minister of State talked about all energy stakeholders. I have spoken to many of them and they are very concerned. They are concerned that this project might not go ahead. The Minister of State spoke about the €40 million, which is 30% of the infrastructure costs, which will go some of the way if it comes through. I understand it could be years before a decision is made by the EIB. I want to emphasise that planning permission is due to run out in October 2025 and the work has to start in the last quarter of this year. Will the Minister of State assure me that every effort will be made to get the funding in place to enable the port to carry out the necessary infrastructure works? Will he talk to the IDA to ask it to make land available which has been lying idle for five or ten years, so that these turbines can be constructed, and all the dreams that have been mentioned here by various Ministers in recent years can come to pass? Otherwise, this will not happen. We will lose confidence, which is important in this business.

The Minister of State has an opportunity in the few minutes left to him to give us some confidence or maybe to ask the Minister for Transport to make an announcement in the morning with respect to the confidence that is needed to enable this vitally important industry to proceed. We have been talking about offshore renewable energy for a long time. We have been talking about the potential, the sustainability, the stability and the confidence for Ireland. If this fails in Cork, it will be a deathblow for the whole country. Our competitors are moving ahead and are ahead of us as we speak.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Stanton for his further contribution, highlighting the significance, importance and timeliness of this project proceeding. In advance of a comprehensive review of the national ports policy in 2013, which had just commenced, the Department of Transport, in conjunction with the Irish Maritime Development Office, carried out an assessment of the options for Irish commercial State ports to facilitate the offshore energy sector and assist in Ireland achieving its emissions reductions targets. The key recommendation arising from the assessment was that a small number of large-scale port facilities on the island of Ireland will be required for assembly and deployment activity to meet Ireland's renewable targets. In addition, a greater number of ports will be needed for post-construction operation and maintenance of facilities.

As stated, the national ports policy is currently under review. An issues paper was published in October 2023 and a public consultation was held to review the views of stakeholders. The issues paper posed questions over 12 themes, including a section on ways to support the development of port infrastructure to facilitate offshore renewable energy. The second phase of development of a revised policy will see the publication of a national draft ports policy, which is planned to be open for public consultation in the third quarter of this year. On foot of this work, in December, the Department published a policy statement on the facilitation of offshore renewable energy by commercial ports.

As time is tight, I want to confirm to the Deputy that the Port of Cork company is the only port in Ireland that has planning permission in place to proceed with offshore infrastructure works. The port received planning permission in 2015 for a phased development at Ringaskiddy port, which is valid for ten years. The Port of Cork has confirmed to the Department that planning permission will expire in October 2025. The Port of Cork company has communicated to the Department that it plans to begin construction work at the Ringaskiddy east plant, on the permitted development, in the third quarter of 2024, to be completed by October 2025. The Port of Cork will also require a maritime area consent form. The dredging will need to be completed to facilitate the facility to become operational.