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

I thank the Senators for their input. I will address the points that were made in the order I heard them. I will start with Senator Garvey, who pointed out that Moneypoint is facing a future transformation. Moneypoint has huge grid connection and is clearly an ideal location for future renewable energy development and hydrogen development. It will be a location for innovation, investment and employment in Clare. It will transform from being a place where coal was burned to a place for clean energy. I am sure Senator Garvey will be watching this carefully.One of the points the Senator made relates to her concern about having sufficient supply of skilled workers to do these tasks. When we think about just transition, we often think about people who are involved in peat-burning, coal-burning or in other types of dirty energy production. There are many other jobs throughout society that will also transform. People who are involved in oil or gas prospecting have skills in seabed surveying, for example. Those skills are transferable if those people can access transfer coursed. I have met people in those industries who are looking for that type of transfer.

The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, has developed strategies around green training and green skills procurement. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is chairing the offshore energy committee. Part of the brief of that committee is to ensure there are sufficient skills in that area. I take Senator Garvey's point that in a location such as Clare, hybrid training will be important. It is important that people can take part in courses without having to attend on site every day. Those points were well made.

Senator Chambers referred to the challenge on the west coast. There are a number of challenges to offshore wind on the west coast. The water is choppy and deep. However, there are enormous wind resources available on the west coast. It is far windier there. I see that when I visit the west of Ireland. I see trees bent in a particular direction by the wind. It is obviously a big and untapped resource. One of the challenges the Senator did not mention is that it is such a beautiful location. These are sensitive locations and it is difficult to harness wind energy without affecting that. It is for that reason floating wind turbines are more likely to be deployed in the west than on the east coast. Floating wind turbines are not yet a mature technology. They are being used in pilot programmes. I saw them off the coast of Portugal. I would support the development of pilot programmes for floating wind turbines between now and ten years' time, which is the likely timescale before they are deployed. Of course, planning is starting now and the auctions will happen in a couple of years' time. It is not like we will be asking where to start in the 2030s. However, the Senator is absolutely right to point out that the planning must happen.

Senator Chambers is concerned that there is not sufficient grid connection. She is right. We need additional billions of euro for EirGrid, which has a multiyear investment programme. That is part of the national development plan. A part of my Department's added responsibility in respect of delivery on the national development plan is to ensure those types of projects are delivered. Transferring energy through the grid is not the only way to move energy. The hydrogen strategy, which was mentioned by Senator Burke, allows for energy to be moved without electricity cables. Exactly what form that will take is not yet clear. Our hydrogen strategy is coming out this year. There are proposals around whether the energy will be put into the form of ammonia, shipped in liquid form or moved through pipelines. All of this is future technology at this stage but it is critical. Serious conversations on the issue are taking place between national governments. The German and Dutch Governments have had discussions with the Irish Government over the purchase of our hydrogen in the future, and we are setting up supply lines between our countries for that purpose. The issue is being taken seriously. Memorandums of understanding have been signed, for example, between the Port of Cork and the Port of Amsterdam. That type of work is also going on with the Germans.

I will turn to consider fishing and the relationship between the fishing industry and the offshore wind industry. Senator Chambers pointed out that it does not all have to be bad. She and Senator Burke made the point that there is a possibility for biodiversity gain and for environment improvement in the spawning of fish in a protected area near renewable energy. The largest area that is safe for birds in my constituency, a bird sanctuary, is in an area that was artificially created when a railway was built 150 years ago. It is possible for man-made infrastructure to result in an improvement in biodiversity. In environmental impact assessment reports, we cannot assume that every impact on the environment is negative or that every threat is 100% guaranteed to happen. We must balance the positives and the negatives.

I was glad to hear Senator Boylan say that her party supports the reform of the planning system. She did say, however, that she is concerned there will be a limit or reduction in respect of access to justice. I agree with and support that point. She mentioned a decade of inactivity. While there is no point in regretting the past, it is worth noting that other European countries have moved ahead to develop offshore wind in the past decade, a time when we did not do so. We developed our onshore wind well. We are one of the best countries in the world for onshore wind but we did nothing in respect of offshore wind at a time when we had all the resources to do so. It takes five to seven years to start from absolutely nothing in an industry to having offshore wind turbines. It is a job this Government is doing in the knowledge it will not be there to harvest the fruits because it will be the second half of the decade when offshore wind energy is delivered. We can look at Scotland and how well it is doing, but we must acknowledge that Scotland has been at it for longer. It has developed its industry and has the knowledge and supply systems in place, as well as all of the industry that has built up around offshore wind. It is now cheaper to deploy wind in Scotland than it is in Ireland because the Scots are set up for it. We will be in that situation in the future. That is certainly something to consider and learn from. Members of the Joint Committee on the Environment, Climate and Communications visited Scottish wind farms to learn about what is involved.

Overall, this debate has been worth having. It is important that we put on the record the Government's plans for the future. When the industry is looking at investing in Ireland and other countries are considering making deals with Ireland over the trading of future energy in the form of hydrogen or electricity, they want to know what our strategies are, what our targets are, how many GW of wind we are going to deliver, how much hydrogen we are going to be producing and by what date. They want to see clear plans in place for all of that. There are many commercial companies involved. Up to 20 large offshore wind companies are competing and engaging all the time with the Department in respect of these options. We had a very competitive auction. The reason we had good results from that is because many companies competed. Those auction results are a reflection of the belief of the industry of those companies' ability to work in Ireland and co-operate. They believe the system is going to work because Ireland is a place in which to do business. For the future, Ireland is well placed for the delivery of offshore wind energy. It is something we can regret not having done earlier but we know we have enormous potential for the future. We will be above 30 GW within two decades and that is something that will provide our country with improved resilience, self-sufficiency and independence. It will allow us to withstand the types of shocks we have seen in recent years. Those types of shocks can always happen. We are an island nation. We need to protect ourselves and we need to be able to power our own country.