Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 February 2017
289. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the relationship between the foreshore lease application (details supplied) currently under consideration and the foreshore licence granted for the installation of cables on Galway Bay in 2015. [5989/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Marine Institute operated a Marine and Renewable Energy Test Facility at Spiddal in Galway Bay since 2006 under lease number FS004904. This test facility operated for approximately 9 years on an independent basis. A further lease application has been made (FS006566) in relation to a proposed new test site.
In 2013, in order to improve the environmental monitoring in the area, the Marine Institute applied for a licence to install a fibre optic cable in Galway Bay. The Galway Bay Cable, which is funded through Science Foundation Ireland, was licensed (FS 005751) in 2015 for a period of 35 years and operates as a stand-alone project to support marine research and environmental monitoring.
While the cable and the ocean energy test site are independent of each other, in order to realise the opportunity for increased functionality, the cable end equipment (the cable component sharing space with the test site) has been included in foreshore lease application FS006566 and is referred to in Section 4.3.2.2 of the accompanying Environmental Report. This will allow ocean energy converters to be connected during specific testing phases and other marine technologies and componentry to be tested and evaluated.
