Renewable Energy Generation
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-28
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

Deputy Crowe opened proceedings with a heartfelt plea for the mid-west in the aftermath of having met with the Limerick Chamber of Commerce. I outlined earlier the progress that we have made in terms of auctions, planning permissions and applications that are in progress. I would be positive about this but, obviously, we have to work on the port there in terms of it being ready and capable and having capacity. A new ports strategy is being developed by the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, in respect of that. There is a strong infrastructure there, as the Deputy said, in the context of energy in the mid-west. I would be positive. Some Deputies have been overly negative, and deliberately so, for political reasons. We are making progress on offshore wind. One cannot wave a magic wand and just produce it, as some people seem to be suggesting, but a lot of progress has been made.
One of the reasons we set up the clearing house was to remove obstacles and barriers that could get in the way. It is composed of Secretaries General of Departments. Representatives from Eirgrid, the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities and the National Parks and Wildlife Service and An Coimisiún Pleanála have attended meetings. They all have perspectives on this, and the industry has been brought in as well. This is the first time that the systemic issues that the industry might have are being dealt with. We put this into the programme for Government and have implemented it. Industry representatives meet with the Departments and the regulators, but not on specific projects. That is not allowed, so it is more systemic. Are there general issues that are impeding projects? How can we speed up permissions and make sure on that front, while also challenging the private sector as well in terms of making sure it will have its work done in respect of this? I have attended quite a number of the meetings, and a lot of progress is being made. It is also important to pull all of the Government together, including MARA, and make sure that everybody in the system understands that this is a national priority. That is one of the benefits of the clearing house, and the feedback has been very positive. I have to say that. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, chairs an offshore wind delivery task force. He deals with certain issues at that level and again, he has brought industry in there to make sure we can work to get this over the line. It is extremely important for the future of the country.
Deputy Erin McGreehan mentioned the clearing house. She is absolutely correct that we have to move decisively away from the volatility that fossil fuels create. There has been a crisis almost decade by decade in respect of fossil fuels. A war in the Middle East or a war in Ukraine through the invasion by Russia and we have an energy crisis of one kind or another. I would point out that there are huge opportunities, which we have seen in the context of onshore wind. As I say to all Deputies, close to 50% of all or our electricity is generated by onshore wind. That was good Government policy. It was the policy of successive Fianna Fáil Governments, in the 2000s. Some Deputies decided to have a pop at us, but we created that transformation. We were not in government from 2011 to 2020.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-28