John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Last Friday, I attended the launch of the renaming of Braymore Wind Park as Setanta Wind Park. This is going to be located 9 km off the coast of Clogherhead in County Louth and will be of great benefit to counties Louth, Meath and north Dublin. The whole point of this wind farm is that it is going to generate 1 GW of renewable energy annually, which will power more than 1 million homes and offset 1 billion kg of carbon each year, which is incredible. There is going to be a revolution in renewable energy here in the next decade. By the end of this time, I am confident that Ireland will be the renewable energy powerhouse of the EU and the wider Continent. We should be very excited about this endeavour. I raise this issue today because I wish to ask for a debate with the Minister at some stage on the concept of renewable energy and why it is something to get excited about.

Let us look at what we are doing with solar energy, for example. We have abolished the requirement to get planning permission in this regard. Solar panels can now be put on the roof of a house, or a community centre, to power homes and it will be possible to sell excess energy back into the grid and make money from doing this. We are making renewable energy accessible and financially incentivising its adoption by people. This is a very good thing. I would appreciate if we could have a debate on this topic at some stage.

The Setanta wind farm off the coast of County Louth is an excellent example of what we will be able to do with wind energy. We are at the western edge of the EU and in the path of the Gulf Stream. We are drowning in wind, for want of a better word, and we must utilise this resource and we will do so by the end of this decade. I would, therefore, appreciate having a debate on renewable energy, particularly wind and solar energy generation, at the House's convenience.