Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

155. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the annual estimated cost of port infrastructure for offshore wind energy for the years 2025 to 2029. [28734/24]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I wish to inform the Deputy that under the National Ports Policy commercial state ports operate on a self-funding basis. Commercial state ports receive no exchequer funding and must finance their infrastructure developments, including those necessary for Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE), through their own revenues, borrowings, EU grant funding, or private sector investment.

As such, commercial state ports operate on an independent commercial basis and it is the responsibility of each port company to evaluate the cost of their proposed projects to facilitate the offshore wind industry.

Notwithstanding this, the ORE Ports Facilitation Division in my Department is committed supporting the development of port infrastructure to maximise the use of Irish commercial state ports for offshore wind delivery. Supporting the development of this infrastructure is a core objective of the National Offshore Wind Delivery Taskforce and the Department is working very closely with the Taskforce in this regard.

Officials in my Department continue to engage with all industry stakeholders with a view to maximising all financing opportunities available to state ports. This includes potential financing partners such as the European Union (EU) through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) fund, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF). Separately, the ongoing review of the National Ports Policy will consider ways to support the development of this essential port infrastructure in line with the Government’s climate and energy goals.

This engagement can be evidenced by the assistance given to commercial ports that applied for funding under the 2023 call for the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) fund to develop infrastructure to facilitate offshore wind projects. Officials in my Department provided critical feedback and guidance on the CEF applications. If successful, ports can obtain up to 30% of costs for infrastructure or up to 50% of costs for studies. The results of the CEF funding call are expected towards the middle of July 2024.

Furthermore, my Department is working with the European Investment Bank (EIB) which is providing advisory support concerning a number of ORE port projects which are expected to require financing in order to undertake the significant capital investment required to develop the necessary ORE infrastructure. The results of this engagement by the EIB will inform the approach of both ports and the department in identifying sources of finance for these projects. The output of this work will also be significant in identifying how Irish commercial state ports will contribute towards meeting our 2030 offshore wind targets.