Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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6. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he has considered the recent European Commission communication on Blue Energy (details supplied); if he will indicate the State's readiness actively to undertake concrete measures to achieve the objectives set out and if he will describe these measures, especially in relation to offshore wind; if he intends to submit an application to the European Commission for state aid approval in respect of a REFIT support mechanism for offshore wind; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4292/14]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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If the recent debate on pylons and wind turbines serves to highlight anything it is to show the limitations on the generation of onshore wind energy. The debate is moving rapidly to offshore wind energy. In 2012 offshore wind energy grew by 33% across the European Union. We seem to be missing out in that area. In the past week the European Commission presented a communication on blue energy to the European Parliament and Council. That is the subject of this question.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I welcome the publication last week by the European Commission of its Communication on Blue Energy, which specifically deals with wave and tidal energy technologies. The communication gives a very clear assessment of the enormous potential of ocean energy, identifying the Atlantic seaboard as the area of highest potential in the EU. The communication also highlights the importance for EU energy security of developing this clean, indigenous, energy source and the particular benefit of this dimension for island member states. With an estimate of the sector creating 40,000 jobs by 2035, there is clearly a huge opportunity here for the EU.

The issues covered, and actions proposed in the communication correlate with the content of the Offshore Renewable Energy Development Plan, OREDP, which I will publish shortly. It is clear from the work that my Department has been undertaking to develop the OREDP, and the work the Commission has undertaken on blue energy, that cross-cutting action is required to maintain support for this sector if it is to reach commercial viability successfully. Collaborative work at national and EU levels on areas such as environmental monitoring, research and development, consenting procedures and infrastructure requirements will all be critical to realising the potential of this sector as a source of sustainable employment and economic growth, especially in those coastal communities where job creation is particularly challenging.

The implementation of the OREDP, led by my Department, will be the mechanism through which a fully coordinated Government approach will be taken across the environmental, energy and economic development sectors to ensure that Ireland realises the commercial development of its abundant offshore energy potential, which is among the best in the world. The OREDP will also facilitate our contribution to the achievement of EU blue energy objectives.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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The concern is that we are behind the curve in using the potential we have and which others would envy. Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Portugal called for the EU to set a 2030 goal for renewable energy use but that is not how we are going to state our ambition in the climate change policy. It appears there is a conflict. I produced a Bill that sought just that. Our climate change legislation will not produce targets, it will produce sectoral plans. That is what seems to be called for at European level.

We should be considering policy development for offshore wind feed in tariff schemes to make it attractive for people to invest and not be looking for parcels of land. I want to see wind energy exported in the same way as tomatoes or beef or anything else but we can do it in a way that does not have the kind of impacts that large industrial onshore turbines would have. Even Portugal, which is under pressure, is investing in floating platforms for wind energy. There are ways of doing it and we are behind the curve.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I made the point earlier that our system of government does not place any responsibility for policy-making on Opposition Deputies and God knows I was one for long enough. It is equally true that it is a feature of Irish policy-making that as soon as a great idea about developing renewable energy from onshore wind farms, for example, begins to become a reality its earlier proponents start to run away and discover that maybe we should do it offshore. I do not make that allegation in the case of Deputy Catherine Murphy because I do not doubt her commitment to the question of renewable energy. Time and again during the debate on this topic I have seen opposition fomented to the build-out of the grid and people who should know better giving credence to claims that we know are not objectively or scientifically valid. There are valid complaints but there are also complaints that are not supported by science. I do not believe that we are behind the curve in this area. I do not believe that climate change policy is inconsistent with Deputy Murphy’s argument that there ought to be sectoral plans. That is what is happening here. I hope to publish the OREDP within the next month. That is a sectoral plan focused on the area of substantial concern in Deputy Murphy’s question.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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When submissions on onshore energy were called for I made one outlining how that should happen. Unfortunately, we often develop policy the wrong way around. We make the mistake and then try to fix it. We should have studied how they did it in Denmark where the community is involved and where the Aarhus Convention has real meaning. The people who have responsibility for developing the policy have made mistakes. All the criticism can be on this side but we have got away from the point I am trying to make in the question, about the potential for offshore development. That is my focus today. It is very easy to absorb the time by focussing where the row is now.

It is on future policy development and the conflict on the climate change policy we are going to develop. What the Minister is signing up to, with other European energy Ministers, would seem to be at variance with our national policy on that, which is about a target, not just a sectoral plan.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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There may be genuine misunderstanding on my part, or between us, because I do not see where Deputy Murphy is going. I am doing exactly what she is asking me to do. Within the next four weeks I will be publishing the sectoral plan. She is free to criticise it then, and if she praises it, I will have to go and lie down in a dark room for some time.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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That is not my form.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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However, let us wait until she sees it. When it is published, she can criticise it.

In terms of the Aarhus Convention, nobody can say this country suffers from a lack of consultation.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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After the event.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I do not dispute we have made mistakes in the past - of course, that goes without saying. However, I hope we have learned a lot of lessons as well. In terms of the conflict ongoing at the moment, I have always said that the litmus test of the consultation process would be the character of response. One arranges to respond positively to the concerns raised by people, and there is still a Deputy or two in the House who seek to condemn one for doing what it is they asked one to do three weeks ago. That is life.