Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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259. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the timeframe for implementing Powering Prosperity – Ireland’s Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy; the estimated cost of its implementation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36956/24]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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In publishing Powering Prosperity – Ireland’s Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy in March 2024, and now implementing that Strategy, my Department is playing a key role in the cross-Government Offshore Wind Delivery Taskforce and its objective to mobilise the Irish economy towards realising the associated economic and societal opportunities.

All 40 actions contained in this first iteration of Powering Prosperity are scheduled to be completed in 2024 and 2025. Those actions are already being implemented with a view to creating tangible impact by 2030. A progress report will be published in the second half of 2025 with interim updates on some key actions available on my Department’s website.

For example, we will continue build on international strategic partnerships with other countries to establish meaningful cooperation in supply chain development and knowledge transfer in the offshore wind industry.

Establishment of an annual joint event with Scotland on offshore renewable energy is one such action in Powering Prosperity, completed in June 2024, with participation from Irish and Scottish Ministers and senior officials. The second edition of the event is due to be hosted by the Scottish Government in 2025.

Through Powering Prosperity, will also continue to enable companies in Ireland to play a major role in the development of Irish projects, as well as supporting companies in Ireland to increase their activities in overseas markets. To that end, Enterprise Ireland is working on an ongoing, one-to-one basis with its client companies in the offshore wind sector, and developing a significant scaling initiative for ambitious companies.

Enterprise Ireland is also finalising transformational leaderships programmes which will be promoted to clients in the offshore wind sector from Q4 2024 onwards. Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland are continuously collaborating to ensure that the capabilities and willingness to collaborate of domestic supply chain companies are highlighted to multinationals in the renewable energy and related sectors which visit to Ireland on inward buyer missions.

These ongoing programmes and initiatives cover various supply chain-focussed actions in Powering Prosperity.

Implementation of Powering Prosperity’s other actions is ongoing, and further measures will be developed over time, from 2026 onwards, aimed at achieving the overarching objective of maximising the economic development potential of ORE, including establishing new industrial demand for green energy, and ensuring we grasp the opportunity presented by offshore wind to enhance balanced regional economic development.

Regarding the cost of implementation, certain actions are being implemented using the existing resources of my Department and its enterprise agencies. Other actions fall under the remit of the named action owners in the Strategy – mainly other Government Departments and agencies. Over the course of the Strategy to 2030, implementation of the required actions may give rise to Exchequer costs. Any likely funding requirements will be discussed and elaborated with the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform and requested as part of the annual estimates process. It is anticipated that any funding requests can be considered by the Departments/agencies to which ownership of the various actions is assigned as part of their normal annual budgetary process with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery, and Reform.