I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 to 28, inclusive, together.

For compelling reasons relating to energy security, energy costs and climate change, the Government is committed to quickly reducing Ireland's reliance on fossil fuels. We are taking the necessary steps now to ensure Ireland's long-term energy security and unlocking opportunities for further economic growth. The development of a vibrant offshore wind sector is an important contributor to this objective. This task requires the collective skills and effort of the public and private sectors, working together, to make the most of this opportunity.

To meet our climate and energy ambitions, Ireland had committed to initially achieving 5 GW of installed offshore wind capacity, and an aim to deliver a total of 20 GW of offshore renewable energy by 2040. The 5 GW target will be met through a combination of those phase 1 projects that succeed in securing development consent, and from future offshore projects that will be developed within the south coast designated maritime area plan. The phase 1 developer-led projects include three successful under the State's first offshore renewable energy support scheme, ORESS 1, in 2023, and an additional two projects which are seeking merchant connections through a corporate power purchase agreement. These projects have all submitted planning proposals that are with An Coimisiún Pleanála.

ORESS 2 saw a shift to plan-led development, with the State's first spatial plan for offshore renewable energy, ORE, development, the south coast designated maritime area plan, DMAP, that identifies four sites off the south coast in which future ORE development will take place.

In 2024, the Government's second offshore wind auction, Tonn Nua, marked another important milestone in the State's offshore renewable energy ambitions. The Tonn Nua project will contribute 900 MW towards the 5 GW installed offshore wind capacity and will save 1.87 million tonnes of CO2 annually over its anticipated 30-plus years of operation. The national designated maritime area plan for offshore wind approved by Government in 2025 will designate sites around Ireland's entire coast capable of delivering at least 15 GW of offshore wind by 2040, enabling Ireland to meet its 20 GW offshore targets. The plan is part of a programme for Government commitment to fast-track offshore wind development. This will significantly accelerate offshore wind development and will be one of the largest projects of our generation. We aim to adopt this national DMAP by the end of 2027.

Following on from constructive discussions at the Government industry forum on offshore renewable energy that I hosted last July, I established the offshore wind energy clearing house. The offshore wind energy clearing house is chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach and members include: Secretaries General from the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Climate, Energy and the Environment; Enterprise, Tourism and Employment; Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science; and so forth; and representatives from Wind Energy Ireland, Marine Renewables Industry Association, Renewable Energy Ireland and NOW Ireland. Its first meeting was in September last year and we have had a series of meetings since.

Earlier this afternoon, I attended an event down the street organised by Limerick Chamber of Commerce about the scope for developing renewable wind energy along the Shannon Estuary and up along the coastline of Clare. The panel of speakers spoke about the huge opportunities and the bright future for this area but they also dealt with some of the risks that this involves, delays that could be encountered and the non-configuration of some of the ports along the west coast.

What potential does the Taoiseach see? Are there any timelines for when all this could be advanced? It is a game-changer. For a county that led the way with Moneypoint and Ardnacrusha and that has huge kV lines crossing it, the potential is massive. However, we really want to see it go from being a pipeline aspiration to something tangible that happens. Is there any good news the Taoiseach could give us today?

I welcome the establishment of the offshore wind energy clearing house. This shows how important the Government thinks energy security is and how important it is that we achieve it. As we all know, Ireland is dangerously exposed when it comes to energy. We are still far too reliant on imported fossil fuels, leaving our citizens and the economy at the mercy of global volatility. We have seen the consequences of that in recent weeks with soaring bills, uncertainty and pressure on households and businesses. We must move decisively from volatility to stability. Offshore wind is, as the Taoiseach will be aware, central to the transition, but we must match ambition with delivery. There are huge opportunities for Ireland to scale up. Will the clearing house be expanded to look at all renewable energy options, including how we can scale up and de-risk renewable energy generation, produce things like green hydrogen, develop biomethane and use alternatives like hydrotreated vegetable oil, HVO, for transport, which allow us to replace imported fossil fuels across the economy and not just in electricity?

I welcome the establishment of the clearing house. We need to develop our offshore energy generation capability as quickly as possible. The only offshore turbines we have are in the territorial waters off the coast of my constituency. They were producing more energy 20 years ago than they are today. They are currently producing none. We know we will not reach our 2030 target, and I am worried about our level of commitment to building energy infrastructure.

I was stunned two weeks ago during oral questions when I asked about the date for the completion of the Celtic interconnector. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle was in the Chair and the Minister of State could not tell me the date the interconnector will be finished. We need to be realistic. We need to set out clearly that we will meet the targets in 2031 or 2032 and indicate how far along the line we are to meeting our targets for 2040 as well.

I will take ownership of the Arklow bank as well. This clearing house was established to identify the impediments and challenges, which the Taoiseach did not refer to at all. There are clear impediments to offshore wind. As Deputy Byrne stated, Arklow bank is no longer producing offshore wind energy. We were producing more 20 years ago than we are now. The interconnector to France is required, not only to export electricity but also in the event we need to import it. We heard recently that it is going to be delayed by two years. Can the Taoiseach tell me why the interconnector is going to be delayed? Does it give rise to concern for the Taoiseach that such a major project, which is necessary for the security of Ireland's energy - it is nearly a whisper in the media - is being delayed by two years? The project is hugely important, so will the Taoiseach tell us exactly why this has happened?

Is the clearing house just looking at projects currently in the planning system or is it looking at upcoming projects in the south coast DMAP area? Is it looking at future DMAPs? How is it approaching its work and what barriers are there? How is the clearing house resourced in the context of staff? Does it have enough people who have enough time available to them? Does it have an international focus? Is it rebuilding confidence of the international supply chain in Ireland as a place to invest? A lot of international confidence has fallen away and there are clear examples of that. Is the clearing house looking at that as well?

I have raised the issue of plug-in solar on many occasions. I would like an update on the terms and conditions relating to the south-west offshore wind auction, including in respect of the Li Ban development area. Has the Department examined whether the grid will be upgraded enough or whether the demand will be there? Right now, investor communities are not sure whether the grid is future-proofed enough and capable of handling the level of generation being planned.

I welcome the private wires Bill development in decentralising the grid in this area. This will allow us to push for long duration energy storage, battery energy storage systems and stuff to contain and reduce curtailment. Has the Government considered a more State-led approach, similar to the Norwegian model, in order that the Irish public will retain a long-term stake in infrastructure and wealth created from our natural resources as opposed to them being leased to private developers?

There is no question that Ireland and the world have experienced one of the most significant energy shocks in decades. As discussed earlier, there are no fully operational offshore wind farms in Ireland, one of the windiest countries in the world, after decades of underinvestment and deprioritisation by successive Governments, including those the Taoiseach has been involved with. It has been a gross dereliction of duty to Ireland's energy security that offshore wind energy has not been more urgently developed. The Government's approach to wind energy, as it is to everything, is to rely on foreign capital to solve a domestic problem, driving up prices, selling off natural resources to foreign shareholders and, consequently, engaging in years of meetings, reports and discussions such as this, with no progress towards reduced energy prices for the Irish people. Today, Ireland is almost entirely reliant on foreign, unreliable and expensive energy supplies to survive. Will the Government reverse course and chart a path for public ownership and development of the largest untapped domestic energy resource in Europe?

It is an absolute disgrace that many of the benefits of offshore wind will be given away to private for-profit companies, most of which are from other countries. Another problem that flows from the policy the Government has pursued in this area is the displacement of fishers. I received correspondence today from fishers in Dublin Bay who have had an injunction taken out against them by EirGrid, which is doing surveys in respect of offshore wind. Of course, a private company will benefit from it. Even though the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, licence it was granted stated it was not to interfere with fishers or their gear, EirGrid is now taking out an injunction against Dublin fishers who fish in Dublin Bay, saying their gear is in the way and the fishers must get their gear out of the way.

I thank the Deputy.

It is even against EU law to displace one industry with another.

The Deputy's time is up.

The Taoiseach should get on to EirGrid and tell it to leave the fishers in Dublin Bay alone.

The new cost-of-living crisis underlines the need to get to 100% renewable energy as quickly as possible. For Ireland, that means developing offshore wind. It is quite incredible that for the past 20 years, successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments have been in power and have failed to add any offshore wind energy to the grid. We have less offshore wind energy today than we did 20 years ago, despite all the talk of climate crisis and so on. Why? It is because the Government is relying on the private market and ignoring the lessons of our history, that large-scale energy projects should be publicly owned. It is a point the Minister, Deputy Chambers, made in his budget speech, praising the role of a fledgling State in building Ardnacrusha. We had 80% of our electricity from renewable energy at that point. We had energy security. We had almost zero emissions from our electricity system and we threw that all away to become 80%-----

I thank the Deputy.

-----dependent on fossil fuels. We cannot control what we do not own.

The Deputy's time is up.

Will the Government change course and switch to a public model?

We are feeling the shock in fossil fuel prices because of what is happening outside the country, and this really has to be the catalyst for us moving to renewables. I was shocked to hear that we used to produce more wind energy than we do now. As I said in this Chamber recently, if people go to the west coast, they will nearly be blown over. Therefore, I am at a loss as to why we do not have more wind energy.

The programme for Government indicates that the Government wants to deliver at least 5 GW of offshore wind energy by 2030, and there are greater ambitions out to 2050. How far along is the Government in the context of reaching that target? How likely is it to reach it? What is the plan for 2050? If there is anything standing in the way, what is it and how can it be removed? As other Deputies have said, it is not just offshore wind energy; it is also solar energy.

As someone who comes from Erris in County Mayo, I have witnessed the Corrib Gas project and how little we have benefited from it in the local area or in County Mayo and beyond.

We advocated many years ago for that project to be in public ownership and to do it that way instead. We have an opportunity here with wind energy, but we should have progressed it much further by now. We have an opportunity to look at a public ownership model as well. There is an onus and a responsibility on us to do that.

Before Christmas, the Government voted against proposed wind turbine guidelines from the Opposition. It did so because it said that the Government's proposal and guidelines would be brought forward early this year.

We did not say that.

Spring is nearly over. Where are the guidelines? In 2024, the then Taoiseach, Deputy Harris, stated that wind turbine guidelines would be in place before the end of that year. Right across Ireland, companies are submitting applications for significant wind farms. The guidelines allow these companies to bypass local authorities and to build massive turbines very close to people's houses. The people in local and rural areas deserve guidelines. When will those guidelines be put in place?

We have all been in here previously talking about the absolute necessity of using wind energy. We need to see major moves as regards offshore wind. Where is the clearing house in relation to where the deficits lie and in terms of Belfast Port being the only port that can facilitate-----

There is also Cork.

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.

Fianna Fáil has been in government for a very long time.

We were not in government for 20 years. We have been in government for the six years since 2020. There has been a significant change since 2020.

Fianna Fáil was in government for a long time before that.

I pay tribute to the Green Party's contribution to that as well. The three parties involved in the previous Government all contributed to moving the dial completely in the context of offshore wind. There still are a lot of challenges with offshore wind. Some of these have to do with supply chains, costs and inflation. Someone referenced the fact that the position of the United States in terms of wind energy has impacted on certain companies.

In terms of HVO, I am a believer in that for transport and have discussed it with the Minister. Pepsi in Cork has rooftop solar that helps it meet about 25% of its energy needs, but it also has HVO, which reduces carbon emissions by about 70%, as well as biofuels.

Deputy Ó Murchú mentioned anaerobic digestion, but Deputies on his side of the House and elsewhere will oppose anaerobic digestion.

What is the Taoiseach's plan for it? He is in government.

We are rolling it out. We have a plan. That plan has been published, but, let us be honest, it has met roadblocks from all Opposition Deputies. Politically, these are difficult issues. Onshore wind is a difficult issue, but we are all saying that we have to replace fossil fuels. There are tough political choices to be made, but there is a plan for that. We will continue to work on it.

Deputy Joanna Byrne mentioned the Celtic interconnector. Overall, it is a good story. I can recall signing the contract some years back. I met Eirgrid officials informally at an event in the French embassy and they indicated that there were technical issues. I will ask Eirgrid to brief the House fully in respect of the matter. My understanding was that it would be finished next year. At the time that I met the officials, about three or four weeks ago, at the French Film Festival in Cork, which Eirgrid sponsored-----

They would be better off working on the interconnector.

-----they indicated that there were difficulties of a technical nature which could delay the project somewhat. There was not a single planning objection to the interconnector because of the work that Eirgrid did in terms of meeting with communities and so forth. We will get an update in respect of the matter in order that we are all fully and properly informed in relation to it. I take the Deputy's point.

The other issue on offshore wind will be the supply chain I mentioned. That is what we are testing. We are asking the private sector what its sense of that is, and we have discussed the matter with Prime Minister Starmer. There is a lot happening on the British side. We are assessing whether we can have complementarity on supply chains so that not everybody is chasing the same supplies and creating inflationary impacts and so on.

Deputy O'Rourke also mentioned the clearing house. It is properly resourced, and the feedback has been both good and positive. I outlined earlier who is on it and who attends its meetings. As a result of that, there is renewed confidence now. I am hearing from industry that there is a real sense of confidence, because of the clearing house, that the Government is really driving this and trying to remove the barriers and roadblocks.

In response to Deputy Heneghan, I have spoken to the Minister about plug-in solar. He is aware of the Deputy's interest in this and is very committed to it as well. The grid will be future-proofed. There is massive investment going into Eirgrid. Some €18 billion is being put in to make sure that it is ready for offshore wind.

In reply to Deputy Hayes, there is urgency. He said there is no urgency, but there is. There is a huge desire to get this done.

On the public ownership model, there are huge risks with such a model in terms of expertise, knowledge, know-how and all the rest of it. We might not have offshore wind for the next 20 years. We need to tease this out. That is the reality.

There is enormous risk to the Exchequer in terms of such a model.

Taoiseach, we are well over time.

There had been engagement with fishers and the representative organisations. I am not aware of the specifics Deputy Boyd Barrett referenced but I will check out the background to it.

Deputy Murphy raised a point. I do not accept that this model would work at all. There would be a huge risk to the taxpayer. There are issues around the capacity of the public service to do it and so on. Right now, we are on a trajectory where we will have offshore wind developed. We have built up the planning capacity and MARA's capacity and certain new agencies and so on to deal with this.

Thank you, Taoiseach. The time is up.

Deputy Conway-Walsh raised the Corrib gas project. The Corrib gas project has been very impactful and very successful, although everyone opposed it at the time. Sinn Féin opposed it - not the Deputy personally-----

I wanted it in public ownership.

Sinn Féin always has an excuse to say no to something.

No, it is not-----

The State does not do oil discoveries on its own and never has.

No, but there has to be-----

Deputy Lawless raised a question about the clearing house for offshore wind, not onshore wind.

The Taoiseach will end up making the tea for them.

That was the question that was tabled. On the onshore guidelines, I think the indication was that they would be produced in the autumn of next year. The Minister has done a number of planning statements on a number of issues to do with housing, which took priority, not least the planning exemptions. He is now looking at rural planning guidelines for housing also.

Deputy Ó Murchú raised Cork port. It will be ready. He is not paying attention, having asked the question. We will leave it at that. He was not paying attention.

Will the Taoiseach respond to Deputy Lawless's question?

I just did.