Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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I move:

That Dáil Éireann shall take note of the Report of the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment entitled "Report on Offshore Renewable Energy", copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 8th March, 2023.

I wish to share time with Deputy O'Reilly.

James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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As Cathaoirleach of the committee, I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to lead out on this important debate, and the Business Committee for taking a positive approach and allowing it onto the agenda, which is timely and important.

I express my thanks to my fellow members of the committee who worked diligently to produce this report. The collaborative and considered approach we took to our engagement is reflected in this report. The committee, when drafting its annual work programme, identified this topic as one of particular interest and importance in each of the past two years and the topic of offshore renewable energy remains a focus for the committee, as we seek to achieve our energy and climate goals.

I acknowledge the role of the secretariat in the preparation of this report, which I recommend to the House. I ask the Government not only to give it and its nine recommendations serious consideration, but also to act on its recommendations. The report was compiled over the course of 2022 and remains a key focus to the ongoing work of the committee, including most recently on Thursday, 25 April, when the committee undertook a travel episode to Cork Harbour to examine the potential of offshore wind.

Ireland remains committed to achieving our ambitious target of having 80% of our electricity generated from renewable resources by 2030, with 5 GW coming from offshore wind. Offshore and renewable energy is a cross-departmental goal. I very pleased with the report. In June 2022, we invited representatives from Wind Energy Ireland and Green Rebel to speak to the committee. In September 2022, a committee delegation travelled to Belfast Harbour. I express my gratitude to all of the officials and MLAs who engaged with us in such a constructive way. The committee travelled to further understand the importance of offshore renewable wind and to examine the issue in person with officials.

In December 2022, the committee undertook engagement with Bord na Móna via a written submission to the committee. In reaching out to stakeholders to gain diverse perspectives on offshore renewable energy, the written submissions and the views of witnesses provided the committee with an insight into several areas where they deemed it was most important to make improvements. There is significant capacity for transformation to clean, sustainable and renewable energy.

On 17 April this year, the committee engaged in a public session with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on its report, Powering Prosperity – Ireland's Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy. As I stated, on 25 April, a delegation from the joint committee undertook a visit to Cork Harbour. Green energy remains a focus for everyone, and the topic of offshore renewable energy is a key focus for the committee to examine in order to support the advancement and development of offshore wind energy and Ireland's ports.

The trips to Belfast and Cork harbours allowed the committee to develop its understanding of offshore renewable energy, informed the committee's view on future development opportunities around the coast of Ireland and facilitated an examination of the impact and costs of developing an offshore wind energy port. The committee thanks the officials of both harbours for facilitating both visits.

Ports have two key roles in supporting offshore wind energy. They can serve as an operations and maintenance base for an offshore wind farm. Larger ports with extensive infrastructure can provide construction or marshalling services. Several Irish harbours are suitable as operations and maintenance bases. Each base translates to approximately 80 full-time jobs and is normally accompanied by extensive investment in local services and port infrastructure.

Ireland is particularly well placed, especially around the west coast, to avail of wind energy. The opportunity to harness this resource can have a positive impact on achieving our climate action goals. The committee has heard from both officials and stakeholders about tapping into Ireland's potential for offshore energy. As an island, we have plenty of coastline. We also have plenty of wind. Offshore wind farms will ensure Ireland has a secure, clean source of energy.

We are living in a climate emergency and we must act now to save our planet and our communities. Climate change is causing more and more extreme weather events - flooding cities, burning forests and hills and devastating communities. Renewable energy is key to reducing greenhouse gases and tackling climate change. Offshore wind will help to build a cleaner future. It is a key component in Ireland's energy future. It is a giant opportunity for jobs, Irish businesses, research and development, and communities all across Ireland. However, the potential for offshore wind remains challenged by planning issues, investment gaps, job creation, skills shortages, education skills and recruitment issues. Offshore wind will require co-ordinated planning for training within the renewable energy sector through partnerships between Government, industry, and training providers.

The pace of offshore wind developments has accelerated across Europe and presented further challenges to the recruitment of the necessary skills and expertise. Every day we lose experts to countries that are far more advanced in building their offshore renewable energy capacity and infrastructure. These include ecologists, engineers, technicians and many more people working in wind energy to build, develop and grow Ireland's energy infrastructure and correctly harness the potential of Ireland for a sustainable future.

Other European countries such as Poland and Britain have in place an industrial strategy and a sector deal between them and the domestic offshore industry. We must follow suit. These bring together the offshore renewables industry, the relevant State agencies and Departments to maximise the value of the industry domestically for clean growth, which includes a strong focus on building the domestic supply chain. We are already far behind our European counterparts and require action to prioritise training for jobs in renewable energy that are set to be in high demand, including marine planners, turbine technicians, hydrogen specialists and other technical roles.

Communities must benefit. Offshore wind farms must share funds with the communities adjacent to them. Funds from offshore wind farms can and must help transform and revitalise coastal and rural communities. Community benefits and ensuring funds are spread over the lifetime of the project are essential to the successful development of an offshore wind energy industry.

Offshore wind can help reduce our reliance on imported gas and provide cheaper energy to homes, communities, and businesses across Ireland. This will benefit everybody. Electricity prices will stay high until we get off fossil fuels. Ireland has a poor history in the context of benefiting from our own natural resources and this must change. A sectoral deal can only be achieved with collaboration between the Government, industry and officials. That should encourage the development of an indigenous supply chain, as well as foreign direct investment into Ireland.

I welcome some of the progress made thus far in reviewing current policies in line with the final report and further welcome the publication by the Government's offshore wind industrial strategy on 8 March 2024. However, action is required for more investment and strategic investment in port infrastructure. Opportunities are being developed across Ireland in many of our ports. However, for them to be ready to help to deliver for 2030, they need investment now. We are years behind where we need to be. To achieve our ambitions, we must be ready and, therefore, we must support skills development.

Our long-term security of energy supply will require a combination of renewables, significant grid development and reinforcement and, most important, we will need skilled workers to support the green transition. We must ensure there are more specialists such as ecologists, engineers, health and safety and environment professionals, technicians and seafarers to fill the jobs and skills that we will need. Failure to do this will be a missed opportunity. If we do this and invest in the right training programmes by taking a proactive approach to skills development, we can cut our carbon emissions, cut electricity bills and create jobs.

Further action requires a co-ordinated response across government to support developing the people, training, planning, and the skill sets to be able to deliver on the opportunity before us. I consider our report to be a valuable insight into the work of the committee on this important topic so far. I hope it will prove constructive in terms of the ongoing commitments needed to achieve these ambitious climate goals and how exploring Ireland's potential for offshore wind is key to achieving targets.

The committee looks forward to working proactively and productively with the Minister to address these issues. Ireland is the best location in Europe for offshore wind energy and we must act now to overcome the obstacles we face. Investing in offshore wind energy is an important opportunity for Ireland. While it is a long and expensive road to travel, the benefits of its development far outstrip the start-up costs. However, we are only at the beginning of this process. I hope the recommendations of the final report will be implemented in full. I ask the Government to adopt and implement the recommendations of the report. Offshore wind energy, both stationary and floating, has the potential to make Ireland an exporter of energy. Political parties, State agencies, the third level sector, and private companies must work together towards the delivery of this objective. The development of this area can create a whole new economic sector, as our committee report on offshore renewable energy found, with the potential to create thousands of new jobs.

The Cork Harbour trip last week highlighted just how far we as a State are behind in the delivery of this ambition.

We must have a step change in our approach. If we do not act, our European colleagues will and we will be left behind.

One of the most exciting possibilities for the harnessing of offshore wind energy is at Foynes in Limerick. The port is uniquely placed with deep waters and 127 ha of development land adjacent to it. As I have said before and I will say again many times, this is our generation's Ardnacrusha moment. This is how big this is. It is a moment that must be seized.

The development of offshore wind energy is our chance to eventually become energy independent. We can harness this energy and export the excess that we will not need or we can import energy from abroad. That is the choice. It is as simple as that - we can either harness it or buy it from abroad.

Unfortunately, we are years behind in the context of planning, infrastructure, skills and the funding needed to progress this. We, as an island, are extremely fortunate to have an abundance of national resources, including in our coastal waters. The plan on how we can deliver is there. It is ready; it just needs the support of public and private entities.

The Foynes Port 2041 strategy details how we can approach this. We have proximity to offshore wind resources. We have a deep water port with nearby land that is ripe for development. What we do not have is the appropriate grid connectivity and human capital. With a combination of these factors, we can deliver, in Foynes, 30 GW of floating offshore wind and, potentially, over 5,000 new jobs. We must utilise the factors to which I refer begin our journey towards eventual energy independence for our State.

Yesterday, the Future Framework for Offshore Renewable Energy was published. The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, stated that it is "Ireland's most exciting industrial opportunity for decades." I wish that were true. I welcome this, but it is far too late. We have squandered our potential and left ourselves lagging way behind. We need a step change from the Government. We need to move from words to delivery.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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I thank our Chairperson, Deputy Quinlivan, and the secretariat staff of the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment for all of their work on this report.

In a time of climate change and energy insecurity, there is an opportunity for industry and coastal communities, working together, to develop a new industrial sector supporting regional development, creating thousands of jobs, and driving sustainable growth. Decarbonising our electricity system is central to the transition to a more sustainable, affordable and secure energy system. Shifting to renewable electricity is crucial for decarbonising the electricity system, as well as facilitating the decarbonisation of other sectors, such as heating and transport.

Delivering clean and affordable electricity is central to the environmental, economic and social development of our State. The current energy crisis is testament to the dangers of relying heavily on fossil fuels. Given the volatility of prices as well as their significant contribution to climate change, with renewables becoming cheaper, on average, than fossil fuels, their costs can also be more stable with the right pricing and renewable energy support mechanisms in place. Central to this is getting offshore renewable energy right.

Sinn Féin does not believe that the benefits of the renewable energy transition have been fully captured yet. We remain sceptical that the Government can harness these benefits. In our 2018 Power in Ireland document, we set out an ambitious and pragmatic plan that would have seen the proportion of renewables provide 80% of electricity demand by 2030. This target was only accepted by Government in 2021. Delayed ambition, a chronic lack of implementation and inadequate planning and resourcing have already put meeting this target in jeopardy. Sinn Féin would prioritise accelerating the transition to renewable energy in a manner which maximises energy security and affordability for individuals and communities. Unfortunately, poor policy choices and a failure to invest by successive Governments has put energy affordability and security in a precarious position.

The failure to realise the potential of our wind and solar resources and thereby reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuels at pace has also left us excessively exposed to the negative impacts of energy crises arising from global events that are out of our control. Sinn Féin believes that the decarbonisation of the energy system must be harnessed in a manner which delivers long-term social and economic benefits for Irish society ensuring that our natural resources are translated into national wealth.

Decarbonising our energy system will require significant public and private investment. We believe that this investment can and must be leveraged in a manner which delivers real long-term social and economic benefits for families and communities across this island. Sharing the benefits of the energy revolution and delivering more affordable energy is at the heart of delivering a just transition.

Sinn Féin believes that the State is not pulling its weight when it comes to renewable energy. The Government has to get its act together to bring the pace, urgency and ambition to deliver the plan and actions to realise the full potential of renewables, particularly wind.

Last week, I visited the Port of Cork, which has an area with offshore planning for wind energy. The latter will expire shortly, and there is no hope that work can begin before it does so. The Government must step in to deliver a proper planning system and tackle the decades of inaction on the grid system. Ireland cannot afford a continuation of the stop-start-delay approach. Government must invest in ensuring that we have the necessary port infrastructure to support offshore renewable energy, as well as investing to ensure that we have the necessary skills. This includes significant investment in research, development and innovation, growing domestic manufacturing and upskilling and apprenticeships. Furthermore, the State must ensure that local communities benefit from offshore renewable energy, whether this be in terms of jobs, economic and social benefits, or through energy co-operatives.

In the course of its work, the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, visited Belfast and Cork. This greatly contributed to what is in this report. I thank the clerk to the committee and the committee secretariat for facilitating that.

As a committee, we are very interested in the issue of offshore renewable energy. The reason we are is because we see a clear and valuable opportunity to harness what we have all around us, to work for the benefit of coastal communities and to create those high-paying jobs, but the opportunity is slipping away from us. I encourage all Deputies to read the report and engage with it and I encourage the Government to take on board the suggestions contained in it.

I have to apologise. Neither I nor Deputy Quinlivan will be able to stay for the debate. Unfortunately, we are both caught up with commitments outside of the House.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Before he goes, I thank, the chair of the joint committee, Deputy Quinlivan, the clerk, the secretariat and all the members for this comprehensive and forward-thinking report.

The report set out recommendations on diverse, but connected, topics. For instance, it recommends: planning and consideration of sites for offshore renewable energy, a more integrated approach to delivering it and the research on supports needed to nurture and build this new industry for Ireland; further exploration of the opportunity for fixed and floating offshore wind to play a part in Ireland's green energy future; and the provision of resources for public data collection to underpin the development of an offshore wind industry in Ireland.

The report highlights the need for active education, training and recruitment initiatives to increase the supply of essential skills for this sector, and greater focus on exploring and enhancing the potential for domestic job growth. It recommends empowerment of and reward for coastal communities for hosting wind energy. The report also suggests the development of an offshore delivery task force to create and support an action plan.

I am pleased to say that the intent of these recommendations is well reflected in cross-Government collaboration and action on offshore renewable energy. We are on a clear path to achieving our offshore renewable energy targets by way of a plan-led approach to development and we are determined to ensure that, in reaching these targets, Ireland will capture the full economic opportunity arising from our offshore ambitions. This sense of determination is reflected in the publication by my Department in March of this year of Powering Prosperity - Ireland's Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy. I pay tribute to the former Minister, Deputy Coveney, for his leadership on this issue.

The committee may also be aware that the programme for Government and the White Paper on Enterprise both have a focuses on the twin green and digital transition. The White Paper, published in December 2022, identifies offshore wind as a key opportunity for Ireland.

The Department of the Environment, Climate, and Communications' Policy Statement on the Framework for Phase Two Offshore Wind, published in March 2023, sets out a plan-led approach to meet Ireland's offshore wind ambitions. As part of this, it includes a commitment to work with industry to develop an industrial strategy.

To build on those foundational documents, and considering the recommendations in the joint committee's report, a memorandum to Government proposing the development of an industrial strategy for offshore wind was brought forward on 9 May 2023. Powering Prosperity was developed in line with that decision. Within weeks of that decision, the new offshore wind strategy unit in our Department was created, and work commenced on the stakeholder engagement and fact-finding phase of the new industrial strategy, which concluded in November 2023. Powering Prosperity was approved by Government on 5 March and published on 8 March.

The vision at the core of Powering Prosperity is, by the end of this decade, to build a successful, vibrant, and impactful offshore wind industry, and, crucially, to ensure that the industry creates value for the people of Ireland. To implement this vision, the strategy targets four core areas: supply chain, both domestic and international; research, development and innovation; future demand and end uses for renewable energy; and balanced regional economic development.

Powering Prosperity also clearly sets out ten ambitions that Ireland will aim to achieve by 2030.

The first ambition is to develop an innovative enterprise ecosystem with indigenous and multinational companies that will provide world-leading service to the offshore wind sector. The second ambition is to dramatically scale up the enterprise base that will service the offshore wind sectors in Ireland and around the world. The third ambition is to deliver up to 5,000 jobs in the offshore wind and related industries. The fourth ambition is to maximise opportunities for companies and investors to develop a vibrant and successful supply chain. The fifth ambition is to proactively assist enterprise, workers and the research, development and innovation ecosystem in availing of these opportunities through targeted funding and supports. The sixth ambition is to establish an offshore wind centre of excellence and a new floating offshore wind demonstrator to support growth and innovation. The seventh ambition is to pursue strategic partnerships with like-minded countries in Europe and beyond. The eighth ambition is to work with stakeholders to develop world-class property solutions powered by renewable energy. The ninth ambition is to develop, in collaboration with other Departments, major industrial hubs around key deployment and operations and maintenance ports. The tenth and final ambition is to transform Ireland's regional capability and deliver opportunity for the people of Ireland, throughout Ireland, by developing industrial hubs and balanced regional economic growth.

These ambitions are supported by 40 actions for implementation in 2024 and 2025 and I emphasise five crucial actions already under way. The first is the establishment of an offshore wind centre of excellence. This will be a physical centre that bring together offshore wind supply chain companies, including many SMEs, Government agencies and further and higher education institutions. It will enable them to access, adopt and accelerate new technologies including, for example, floating offshore wind and digital. This will allow Ireland to solve real-world challenges involved in delivering our offshore wind projects and facilitate the collaboration needed to drive the sector’s future competitiveness. Early scoping work is already under way on the centre.

The second action involves us exploring the concept of green energy industrial parks. Meeting our offshore renewable energy targets of at least 37 GW by 2050 presents a huge opportunity to locate large new industries of the future outside Dublin, in coastal communities close to where renewable power comes onshore. These new parks could attract significant new foreign direct investment. They could create jobs and prosperity by co-locating the infrastructure required to produce renewable energy with the new industries which will use it. Officials from my Department are already collaborating with IDA Ireland and other cross-government stakeholders to scope and progress this action.

The third action is driving scale in the offshore wind supply chain. We already have excellent Irish companies working on offshore wind in Ireland. This action will see agencies such as Enterprise Ireland providing one-to-one assistance to new and existing companies to help them grow and prosper. We want our companies to play a significant role in the offshore renewable supply chain both at home and abroad, and they will. Many of these companies were featured as case studies in the Powering Prosperity document. XOCEAN of Louth is completing survey and data collection work as far afield as the USA and Australia using its incredibly innovative autonomous vessels. I had the pleasure of visiting the company last year. Exceedence Limited was successfully spun out of University College Cork’s environmental research institute, produces innovative software to simplify the process of planning, building and running a large offshore wind farm. Subsea Micropiles of Dublin is pioneering new high-performance seabed foundations and anchors to make offshore wind turbines more secure and reliable. Enterprise Ireland has already made an excellent start on this crucial supply chain development action by bringing together over 100 companies in its Gael Offshore Network. That membership is growing every month.

The fourth key action in Powering Prosperity is a memorandum of understanding between EirGrid, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. This will provide a framework for strategic co-operation between parties involved in offshore wind development. It will create more awareness and understanding among Irish-based SMEs of large-scale grid infrastructure contracts to support offshore renewable energy. The memorandum of understanding will be finalised by the end of June.

The fifth and final action involves building on international strategic partnerships which will assess and shape industrial policy for offshore renewable energy. We have been pleasantly surprised by the open and collaborative nature of discussions with stakeholders in other countries. At a meeting in Dublin on 12 September the nine member countries of the North Seas Energy Cooperation group, namely, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, agreed to reach at least 260 GW of offshore wind energy by 2050. That is seven times our own ambitious 2050 target of 37 GW. Put simply, building 260 GW of new capacity means there should be enough economic value to be captured by every country, including Ireland, which collaborates on the supply chain. A notable first step in deepening international partnerships will be an annual joint event between Ireland and Scotland to promote bilateral opportunities in offshore wind. The first edition is expected to take place in June between Dublin and Cork and will be attended by government ministers, senior officials, and companies from both countries.

Powering Prosperity is the result of a strong collaboration between the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. Both agencies have also provided officials with industry contacts who were extremely generous with their observations and technical input. Our officials collaborated intensively with other Government Departments and agencies, especially via the offshore wind delivery task force chaired by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Ryan. The actions of Powering Prosperity effectively function as the actions for workstream 7 of that task force, which is dedicated to realising a successful supply chain. I highlight the sustained and important work of the task force thank the Department's colleagues across government for their continued collaboration. I also thank the many industry professionals who have given us their time, feedback and expertise in developing Powering Prosperity, especially the members of the Department’s offshore wind industry forum, a group of experts from industry and our enterprise agencies which is guiding us as we implement our 40 actions. Overall, the reception of Powering Prosperity has been very positive. Wind Energy Ireland, for example, warmly welcomed the strategy and committed to working with our Department "to ensure the benefits from our offshore wind revolution stay in Ireland".

The implementation of Powering Prosperity is proceeding, with an ambitious programme of work already under way for 2024 and planned for 2025. My Department and its agencies will continue to collaborate with colleagues across government and with industry and other national and international stakeholders to achieve our vision, including the Oireachtas joint committee. We will drive implementation by reporting to the offshore wind delivery task force and working closely with the offshore wind industry forum. We will publish periodic progress reports on this first iteration of Powering Prosperity, commencing in 2025.

I will conclude at this point. I again thank the committee, including the clerk and secretariat, for its work and for presenting its paper on the considerable industrial opportunity represented by delivering a successful and vibrant offshore wind industry for Ireland.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his remarks. There is an offshore wind conference in Dublin today and I attended it for quite a while. I am buzzing after being there for most of the day. The interest in the room was amazing. The people there are hugely impressive in their expertise and enthusiasm to drive onward. The potential for Ireland from offshore renewable energy is virtually limitless. People today were describing it as an industrial revolution. Artificial intelligence, AI, has been described as a fourth industrial revolution, but this is another one. We have what is probably the second greatest wind resource in the world off our coasts. Next month it will be 20 years since our only offshore wind farm was commissioned. It is off the Arklow Bank. We have had no offshore farms since. We have had plenty onshore and that is good, but from listening to people today, a huge amount of work has been done by government in the recent past, especially this Government and the previous one. There has been a huge amount of research, reports and preparatory work done, so we are ready to go. Industry is watching very closely. Not only are we ready to go but, as colleagues have said, our competitors in other countries are ahead of us and they are moving very fast.

There is a concern about the skills shortage we may have.

A lot of work has been done on that issue, which has also been highlighted. Green Tech Skillnet has produced a document on the matter. It proposes establishing a skills development fund, attracting workers from abroad and managing skills in senior roles. Offshore qualifications, construction management skills, maritime training and skills in health and safety, enterprise and electrical work are all needed. What also came across very well today was the importance of the environment and ensuring that what we do does not have a negative impact on the environment. That was stressed again and again, as were the relationship with the fishers and the role they play. This is not simple stuff. It is complicated and challenging but the rewards are absolutely amazing.

I join with the Minister of State in welcoming the report his Department published under the former Minister, Deputy Coveney, Powering Prosperity - Ireland's Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy, and the actions that are to flow from that. I encourage the Minister to ensure that those actions take place as soon as possible. For instance, the centre of excellence that has been mentioned should be established straightaway.

The other thing that comes across is the potential to create green hydrogen from wind energy. That is another game-changer. In my part of the world, which is also the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach's part of the world, we have an oil refinery. It is working ahead - I was going to say "powering ahead" - to develop green hydrogen but, again, it needs the offshore wind. Last week, committee members visited the Port of Cork. I was taking aback to learn that, as has been said, the Doyle Shipping Group has withdrawn from any involvement in offshore renewable energy for its own very understandable reasons. Perhaps it will change its mind eventually but it has withdrawn. That leaves the Port of Cork to stand alone.

The port has planning permission to expand and needs to do so. If it is going to be an assembly point for turbines, it needs a physical expansion. Apart from Belfast, it is the only port in Ireland with planning permission to do this. That permission runs out next year. The problem is that the port may not get permission again. If it does not start work by the end of this year, it will not happen. It could find it very challenging to get planning permission again. I brought this up in a Topical Issue in the Chamber earlier this week. The problem is that if the Port of Cork cannot expand and develop, there is nowhere else available and our competitors are moving forward very quickly. This is pretty scary stuff. All the plans and research we have done could be for naught if we do not get our act together on this. The port needs approximately €120 million. I am not sure where that money could come from because state aid rules may be a problem. However, with all the reports, talk and ambition we have, we need physical action on these decisions and, as I keep saying, the diggers in place to make this happen. Otherwise, these turbines will be assembled in Wales and towed over to be put in place off our coast. Let us consider the loss in that regard. Colleagues and the Minister of State have talked about the potential for employment, skills and research. That will all be lost. In fact, it will cost a great deal of money to tow these turbines to a point off our coast from a foreign port. I am talking about fixed bottom turbines rather than floating turbines. Floating turbines are a while away yet, although that is where the greatest potential is, especially off the west coast. However, there is a bit of work to be done on that.

I join with colleagues in saying that we need to move on this pretty quickly. The draft south coast DMAP is to be announced tomorrow. That is very welcome. People are anticipating that it will be very positive and that it can be moved forward with. One of the issues with the DMAPs is that developers should really be able to choose where they want to go, if possible. I am not sure whether that is the case. It is something that we need to seriously look at.

A lot of what I wanted to say has been said. I will stop at that. This has great potential. A lot of work has already been done on it. We are on the cusp of really great things. We really need to move on it now. The only place where this can be done straight away is in Cork. The planning permission is in place but we need a decision on it. I am not just saying that because I am from Cork. I have been told that there is no other place in the State where this stuff can be assembled and brought out from.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I apologise that I was not able to listen to much of the earlier discussion. I was busy with something else in this place. This is a very important issue. It is of particular interest in my area because there are plans for a very significant offshore renewable energy development off the east coast. As anybody who is concerned about the climate crisis we are facing knows, the starting point is that we have to rapidly develop renewable energy resources to reduce the amount of fossil fuels we use and save the planet from disaster. We have to do that as a matter of urgency. People Before Profit is very committed to the idea that we must do that. However, the particular model this and previous Governments have pursued for the development of offshore renewable energy is very problematic.

It is problematic, first, because we are going to hand over these resources, by and large or almost entirely, to private companies such as the French state energy company. The idea that our natural resources are going to be handed over to private companies and that the French state is going to benefit more from offshore renewable wind than the people of this country seems absolutely crazy. These developers and these international for-profit energy companies have no obligation whatsoever to provide us with security of supply or to give us energy at affordable prices. In fact, as we have seen in the recent cost-of-living crisis, much of which was driven by energy price hikes, these companies are more than willing to profiteer off the back of energy shortages or issues in the market and to generate very significant cost-of-living crises for ordinary people. We have a fundamental problem with the fact that we are handing over these resources to private for-profit companies rather than the State developing its own renewable energy resources to benefit the people of this country, our society, while also addressing the urgent climate question.

The other very important point is that we do not just have a climate crisis, but also a biodiversity emergency. This second emergency is often less focused upon but it is arguably as urgent as, if not more urgent than, the climate crisis because the possibility of whole ecosystems collapsing because we are destroying biodiversity - in this case, marine life - and not paying enough regard to protecting the marine means that we could end up cutting off our nose to spite our face. I mean that very seriously.

It is worth pointing out that 50% of the world's oxygen comes from phytoplankton in the sea. That was not something I knew until I became familiar with this matter but phytoplankton grows in shallow water because it needs sunlight. This is the stuff of life. It is literally the reason there is life on the planet. If we destroy marine biology, our marine environment and marine biodiversity, we will remove the basis for human existence and the existence of life on the planet. Why do I mention that? It is because, if relatively shallow water is important, then sandbanks are very important.

Under the habitats directive, this is recognised and they are protected. I think it is under Annex I that it is recognised how important sandbanks are. They are also incredibly important in protecting the coast against erosion, which is another feature of climate change with rising sea levels and so on. One of the big protections of the coastal environment are sandbanks. Yet where will we put these massive industrial wind farms? It will be on sites dictated by private developers and not based on sustainable marine spatial planning. We will put them on sandbanks, precisely the sensitive and vulnerable environments that are also the spawning grounds for many of the fish which provide livelihood for our fishers.

The fishers I am in contact with work out of Dún Laoghaire, Wicklow and along the east coast, where there are about 800 jobs, direct and indirect, including the fishers and workers in processing and other related industries. They talk about the possibility of the Kish and Codling bank renewable energy plans going ahead on the banks. The seismic survey has started and is already seriously damaging their livelihood and impacting fish and marine life in those areas. They say, to cut a long story short, it will completely destroy their livelihood, which is illegal under EU directives. One of the things EU directives make clear is you cannot displace one industry with another. It is not allowed, yet it is happening because the Government has given a pass with the so-called "relevant projects" for hundreds of enormous wind turbines to be built in close proximity to the coast on sandbanks and sensitive areas which are rich in marine life and phytoplankton, which, I repeat, is the basis of life on this planet. If we destroy those ecosystems, the biodiversity emergency will hit us quicker and harder than even the climate emergency, serious as that is.

We were supposed to protect these areas with the marine protected areas. The average in most of Europe is 30%. The Netherlands are up around 40% and Germany is around 50% protected. We had about 3% protected up to a few years ago; now it is up to about 7%. We are at the bottom of the league table for protecting the sensitive areas necessary for biodiversity. We have given the sites that should be protected from a marine biodiversity point of view to the developers and given them a pass on maritime planning. They should have to pass certain thresholds in terms of protection of the environment and habitats. Apart from anything else, that will probably open most of these industrial wind farm plans to legal action and they will probably find themselves in breach of the habitats directive and other EU marine spatial planning directives. In on-land development and planning in the bad old days, developers did what the hell they liked. We got building on flood plains, the damage that caused and the flooding that resulted. We are about to repeat the same mistakes in the development of offshore renewable energy. We give it to the speculators and private developers and wreck the environment in the process; in the end, we do not even get any of the benefits.

We need to develop this. It should be done by the State on a not-for-profit basis and in line with the directives and with the environmental obligation to protect vital areas of biodiversity, marine biology and so on. That means doing it on a not-for-profit basis and not letting them dictate and it means the State investing in doing it, most likely further offshore. It might be more costly but, in the end, it is more sustainable from an environmental and every other point of view.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I covered all the main issues in my opening remarks. I thank the Deputies.

Deputy Boyd Barrett's remarks are probably outside the scope of the report in terms of the enterprise opportunities. MARA has been established for offshore planning and has responsibilities there.

To Deputy Stanton's point on skills, that is something we are focused on. Working with the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, and the team in that Department through Skillnet, we are looking to make sure we have the necessary skills in place across many facets, including digital and traditional skills. I commend groups such as ATU, which are doing good work with fishing communities. There is a fantastic centre in Killybegs, County Donegal, looking at the prospects there and at adapting existing skills. We need a step change in ambition. That is why we have the plan within the Department. We have the action plan and are resolutely focused on delivering it.