Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 May 2024
57. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to report on his Department's Powering Prosperity: Ireland's Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy, which was published in March; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23263/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraI ask the Minister if he agrees with the implication in Powering Prosperity: Ireland's Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy, published by his Department, that there are thousands of potential jobs, maybe hundreds of thousands of potential jobs, in this whole area from the point of view of assembling and maintaining the turbine infrastructure, having the upstream and downstream maintenance, manufacturing, supply chains and so on. It is a huge potential from a jobs point of view. Will the Minister expand on how he sees this developing?
I thank the Deputy for his question. I absolutely agree with its premise and his ambition. It is the core ambition of Powering Prosperity: Ireland's Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy, published by our Department last March. The strategy ensures that Ireland maximises the economic benefits associated with our climate and offshore renewable energy, ORE, targets. I commend Deputy Coveney, who led on the strategy as Minister in our Department. The strategy includes 40 targeted actions for implementation in 2024 and 2025 to support our offshore wind industry to rapidly deliver offshore wind projects of scale. It also maintains a focus on the sustainable development of Ireland's industry to ensure that our long-term goal of at least 37 GW by 2050 is met.
The strategy aims to build a strong and resilient offshore wind supply chain here, as well as exploring opportunities for Irish companies to play a major role in the development of offshore wind projects at home and abroad. It also explores opportunities to leverage Ireland’s existing strengths in research, development and innovation, RDI, to support the sector to reach the cutting edge of future developments in offshore wind. For the longer term, the strategy will consider routes to market for our abundant clean renewable energy, as well as assessing regional development opportunities, such as those referred to by Deputy Stanton, in areas central to the production of offshore wind energy.
Work is under way on the implementation of Powering Prosperity – Ireland’s Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy and my Department will oversee the implementation of the 40 actions. We will maintain close contact with action owners across Departments and agencies through our offshore wind industrial forum, through the interdepartmental group, the RDI working group and through membership of the offshore wind delivery task force.
Our officials continue to lead workstream 7 of the offshore wind delivery task force, which involves a detailed reporting mechanism and register for risks to delivery. This, in turn, will ensure the timely and effective implementation of each of the actions contained in the strategy.
I thank the Minister for his response. Obviously, there is enormous potential here from the point of view having an almost unlimited supply of energy - and renewable energy at that - for the country. That energy is badly needed. Also, there is the potential relating to job creation and the economy.
Is the Minister of State aware that we need to have a place where the work relating to this matter can be done? I refer to the assembly of turbines, the carrying out of maintenance so on. At the moment, there is no such place available in the Republic. The Minister of State will be aware that the Doyle Shipping Group in Cork has pulled out of this arrangement. It has a dockyard in Cork and it was going to assemble some of the material needed. There is planning permission in place in respect of the Port of Cork, but the latter does not have the finance to allow it to expand. This has come up at the interdepartmental working group. I put it to the Minister that all of the ambition, which is laudable and praiseworthy, outlined in Powering Prosperity – Ireland’s Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy cannot come to fruition unless we have a physical base at which it can happen. Without that, we will be towing turbines in from abroad. In addition, all of the jobs involved could go to the other side of the Irish Sea or across to France.
We are very aware of the need for physical infrastructure. We have outlined in the strategy that will be a demonstrator site as well as an offshore wind centre of excellence. There are three marine test centres currently in Ireland, namely the Lir National Ocean Test Facility in Cork, the SmartBay Test Site for marine and renewable energy in Galway and the Atlantic Marine Energy Test Site, which is currently under development in our own county of Mayo. We will put the business case in place for a demonstrator site that will include: the deployment of pre-commercial or commercial floating offshore wind technologies; an assessment of the performance of floating offshore wind, including in the context of the financial and technical performance necessary to facilitate operations in Irish conditions; seeking to understand the installation, operation and maintenance of floating offshore facilities specifically in Irish waters; and procuring the complementary technologies relating to digital, including remote monitoring and other technologies. All of the latter will be specific to the conditions that obtain in Irish waters and to the facilities we already have.
Am I correct in saying that these demonstrator sites will all be offshore? I am speaking about an onshore centre, such as in the Port of Cork. At present, the latter is not able to operate as an onshore centre. It is not big enough. It needs to expand, and the planning permission is about to run out. The Minister of State might bring that up at the interdepartmental working group the next time it meets. Otherwise, all of the other work to which he referred cannot happen.
Would the Minister of State be supportive of IDA Ireland-owned land being made available to the Port of Cork to enable it to expand? There is a parcel of such land adjacent to the port that is not being used, as far as I understand, and that cannot be used. Would the Minister of State look into that matter and perhaps support a request that the land be made available to the Port of Cork in order that it can get to first base with respect to this offshore renewable energy industry? This is serious. We do not have an onshore base. As far as I am aware, the project at the Port of Cork in respect of which there is planning permission is the only one of its kind in the Republic. Without it, all of this laudable ambition cannot and will not be realised. Others will get ahead of us.
I commend the Minister of State on what he and the Department are doing, but I ask him for to put in place all-of-government approach, which is what is needed, because, otherwise, we will be left on the back foot.
I absolutely agree with the Deputy that we need an all-of-government approach. The Minister of State, Deputy Burke, has made that very clear since he came to the Department. If a request is made by the Port of Cork to IDA Ireland, I would ask it to engage with the latter directly. Anything we can do to support the development of offshore wind energy, not just in Cork - I am conscious that Deputy Stanton is here with Deputies O'Connor and Pádraig O'Sullivan - but also across the island, we will do. State lands should be used to facilitate that. There is also a need for a strategy to enable us to get the skills side of things absolutely right. We also need an apprenticeship strategy in order to get young people working in that space now. We have done a great deal of work in the past year in participating at WindEurope and in participating at wind conferences around the world showing our conditions. There is also some amazing work under way. I visited the facility of a company called XOCEAN in Louth last year to see the work it is doing worldwide in this space.
If Deputy Stanton drops me a note on the parcel of land in question, I would be happy to pursue the matter with IDA Ireland and the Port of Cork.
