Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I get that Donegal was not part of the question but the Minister of State can examine it and check it out. The reason that between 21 and 22 hours of energy is being dumped every day is because we do not have a network to carry it out of the county. One connector with Northern Ireland will not be sufficient for our future needs. The plans in place by various organisations are completely insufficient if we are to develop the capacity that is not only in the Government's current plans but also those for the future.Moreover, there is an opportunity for the country, as part of the EU, to develop an asset for the State using our offshore wind.

As someone from the north west, it is sickening to see that the first offshore wind energy development will be on the east coast, with the west coast treated as an afterthought. That does not matter to some people and all they really care about is reaching our targets, but that is not good enough. Neither is it good enough that we do not have a network.

Will the Minister of State examine the case of Donegal? The Government needs to consider the network nationally. We need a network that is fit for purpose and can look after all of our people across all of the island in future.