Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and thank him, his Department and the joint committee for the tremendous work they have done in bringing this really complex legislation before the House. Notwithstanding that many of the contributions are about the potential for development at sea, we must understand that the purpose of this Bill is the preservation and protection of our seas. This State has been somewhat lethargic in reaching this point in terms of setting out a very clear plan, and the Minister has identified the other instruments that are proposed, to protect the ecological and biodiverse systems that are such a part of our ecology. This must be the core of this.

Married to the necessity of protecting and preserving our aquatic life and the tremendous resource our seas provide not just to our country but to the climate and globe generally are the opportunities for development we hope can be done in synergy and in sync with the necessity of protecting and preserving those resources. I am very conscious of the potential for offshore wind energy capture and, in particular, the potential for floating offshore wind energy, which is well recognised notwithstanding the climatic conditions of today. There is real potential for the capture of offshore wind energy off the west of Ireland - Galway, Clare and Kerry to name just three where there is real potential. I am hopeful the provisions of this Bill will streamline the capacity of those who seek to invest and capture that wind energy and that the process by which permissions and licences are granted is relatively straightforward.

I thumbed through the Bill in some detail and attempted to understand all the provisions. Because of the complexity of the Bill and its size and scale, I am somewhat concerned. I think those who propose to capture wind off our shores are also somewhat concerned. The Minister knows the difficulties we have in terms of advancing large-scale infrastructural projects and the unwieldy nature of our planning system. I am very much a believer in a robust planning system. I believe there are things that should not be granted planning permission but I recognise there should be a relatively straightforward process for critical and key infrastructure.There should be a relatively straightforward process for that. There are on occasion some disingenuous objections that do not benefit anybody. We need to ensure that where the greater good of the country is concerned, we should be in a position to move forward without getting it tied up at EU level or through continual iterations of cases through the courts. I would be mindful of that and hopeful it will not emerge in the passage of this Bill or in putting in place the infrastructure and the structures behind it.

The next phase will be for the Department with responsibility for energy to take a much more proactive approach to capturing wind off the west coast of Ireland. There are proposals to look at the east coast in some of the bids that are under way. There is not only real potential for the capture of wind off our western seaboard on those floating systems but, because this is relatively nascent technology, there are also opportunities for us to develop hubs of activity here that will be in the early stages of this sector. If we can be the pioneers of this floating offshore wind capture, there will be opportunities far beyond just the capture of wind. There are opportunities for job creation, the development of skill sets and the production of some of the technology that can be exported from there. It is a matter of acting as a counterpoint to the shift we have seen over a number of generations away from the west and towards the east because of the changes in the way in which people live their lives. There are real opportunities there. I am hopeful the Bill sets out a clear pathway - I think it does, from my reading of it, but I am not an expert in this area - for those who have ideas and the capacity to put in place this large-scale electricity generation infrastructure and that, where it is not appropriate, they will not waste their time or be dragged into an ever-decreasing circle that gets us nowhere.