Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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162. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the measures he is taking to progress onshore and offshore renewables; if he expects that Ireland’s 2030 targets will be reached; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30273/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government 2025 has reaffirmed Ireland’s targets of 80% of electricity demand to be met by renewables energy sources.

It should be noted that renewables provided 40% of our electricity demand in 2024.

The Accelerating Renewable Electricity Taskforce has been established to accelerate and increase the deployment of onshore renewable electricity generation by focusing on the three key pillars of renewables development – Route to Market, Grid Development, and Planning. This cross-Government Taskforce is identifying and prioritising the required policies needed to achieve our onshore renewable electricity targets and ensuring that barriers to the implementation of these policies are removed or minimised to the greatest extent possible.

Ireland has a number of support schemes in place to increase the development of renewable electricity. The Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) is pivotal to the achievement of Ireland’s 2030 target. RESS consists of a series of competitive auctions, four onshore and one offshore to date, in which successful applicants are offered a two-way support arrangement for a period of approximately 15 years.

The four onshore RESS auctions held since September 2020 have been fundamental in boosting Ireland’s energy independence, with a fifth onshore auction due to take place in early September. The Small-scale Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (SRESS) was also developed to offer a simpler route to market for small-scale and community projects.

The revised National Planning Framework includes regional renewable electricity capacity allocations. The inclusion of the allocations will facilitate the accelerated roll-out and delivery of onshore wind and solar development. These allocations will be integrated into Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies, which will, in turn, inform city and county development plans.

The Offshore Wind Delivery Taskforce was established in 2022 to deliver a system-wide plan across Government to accelerate and drive delivery of Ireland’s offshore wind targets and capture the wider and longer term economic and business opportunities associated with the development of offshore renewables.

Government remains committed to the development of 5GW of offshore wind capacity, with projects in construction by 2030, and energised as soon as feasible thereafter. Ireland’s 5GW target will be met through a combination of projects from Phase One and from within the South Coast DMAP. Five Phase 1 projects accounting for 3.9 GW are progressing through the planning process with an Bord Pleanala.

Separately, the 900MW Tonn Nua site within the South Coast DMAP will be auctioned this Autumn. I intend to bring the remaining three offshore wind DMAP sites to market, and plan to hold another auction in 2026, ensuring a consistent pipeline of offshore developments will take place over the coming years. A further pipeline of development sites within the National DMAP will follow from 2028 onwards.