Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As the Senator pointed out, the west has more wind. It has faster speeds and more regular wind and, therefore, there is more to be harvested. However, it also has deeper waters and a more environmentally sensitive coastline. There are, for example, the Cliffs of Moher and many beauty spots along the west. It is, therefore, harder to develop wind there using the conventional approach, which is to put a wind turbine in the sea and build it onto foundations. That can be done in the shallow waters of the east coast where the wind is not so strong. We are moving towards floating wind turbines, which are a newer technology that is not quite yet commercial. However, I was in Portugal recently. They have a floating turbine there as a pilot and all their water is deep. We are not the only country in the world that is facing this issue. Japan is in the same situation in trying to face this. Our current plan is to not build floating turbines until after 2030. However, there is a war in Ukraine. There is an accelerated need to move towards renewable energy. We know this because long-distance commuters are feeling pain when they have to put petrol in their cars. People are who are on low incomes are finding it hard to heat their homes because the enormous price of fossil fuels.

There is an acceleration across Europe. The European Commission’s REPowerEU plans are all about how we speed up the development of offshore wind and renewables in general, as well as how we can go beyond our current plans. I, therefore, ask the Senator to watch this space.