Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-11
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I am absolutely at one with him in terms of a commitment to investment in renewable energy. Ireland put a lot of eggs in that basket over the past decade and is continuing to do so. In 2023, Ireland was ranked second in the world in onshore wind energy generation. I am not too sure that is appreciated even in Ireland. We will continue to build on that. The programme for Government includes a commitment to 9 GW of onshore wind, 8 GW of solar energy and 5 GW of offshore wind by 2030. These are very challenging targets.
On the question of hydrogen, some progress has been made, although there is a degree of scepticism as to the timeline for the realisation of the proposals around that. I will return to that. I established a clearing house upon this Government entering office to bring the private sector in to talk to Departments and to hear the perspective of regulators in order that we could hear the perspective of those involved in the wind industry. The purpose of this was to try to accelerate matters and to look, generically, at what barriers there are and the issues holding us back in the generation of offshore wind in particular. I passionately believe we need to get offshore wind farms established - certainly, at least one or two - by 2030 or 2031. That is absolutely essential in order that we show people a clear and tangible pathway as to the journey we are on.
We have made great progress on onshore but increasingly in the House and in public debate, we have mixed views about this. When I use the word "we", I mean society. Already, people want guidelines to restrict solar. Solar is in its infancy, but it is moving very fast. Tremendous progress is being made with solar. There have been global issues with offshore, although I am confident that we can iron out the challenges the wind industry faces in developing offshore platforms.
The grid is vital, as the Deputy said. Potentially, up to €18 billion has been agreed, although it could be €14 billion. We have given equity of €3.5 billion to EirGrid to leverage that funding to substantially increase the capacity of the grid to deal with this.
More work needs to be done on the research side in respect of hydrogen. The Deputy is correct that caverns exist that have potential when it comes to storage. On the issue of tidal, I have been to Wales where I saw fairly experimental - or, certainly, embryonic - projects in place to harness tidal energy. There has been some research in Ringaskiddy in respect of that. If I am honest, however, it seems we are some years off that and off the use of hydrogen as well.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-11