Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Following approval of the development of a National Industrial Strategy for Offshore Wind by Government Decision on 9th May 2023, my Department established a new Unit tasked with delivering on this objective recognising the vast potential the industry has for Ireland.

The overarching objective of the Strategy will be to ensure that Ireland maximises the economic benefits associated with Government targets to deliver 37GW of offshore wind energy (OWE) by 2050.

My officials are currently leading on extensive consultations across Government and industry to develop the Strategy, and the intention is to publish a Strategic Roadmap in the first quarter of 2024. This Strategy will be an iterative piece of policy development which will, over time, capture many of the areas of industrial development associated with our offshore wind targets.

The initial Strategic Roadmap will prioritise the most immediate requirements of industry to deliver OWE projects of scale, particularly, but not limited to:

• Identification of measures to maximise Ireland’s participation in domestic and international offshore wind supply chains.
• Setting out the main opportunities for Ireland in offshore wind RD&I (research, development and innovation) to leverage our intrinsic potential as a small, open economy with very strong innovation pedigree.

I also very much welcome the ambition set out by the independent Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce in their Final Report, including recommendations related to OWE. The relevant Departments and Agencies are currently examining all the Taskforce recommendations in detail and my Department plans to publish an implementation update by the end of the year.