Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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64. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment for an update on the development of offshore wind; the status of the guidelines for the development of offshore wind; when the second offshore wind auction will take place; the progress of phase 1 projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27731/24]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I ask the Minister for an update on the development of offshore wind, the status of the guidelines for the development of offshore wind, when the second offshore wind auction will take place and the progress of phase 1 projects to date.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Over a relatively short period of time, this Government has completely reimagined and implemented a new policy, legislative and regulatory system to deliver on our commitment to offshore renewable energy. Our plan-led approach to delivering our offshore wind targets includes a number of overlapping phases. Over 3 GW of capacity has been procured in our first offshore wind auction from phase 1 offshore wind projects, which will deliver over 12 TWh of renewable electricity per year. Three of the phase 1 projects have submitted planning applications in recent weeks with the other three expected to submit their formal planning applications shortly. The terms and conditions for our second offshore wind.auction are being finalised and the auction process is expected to begin before the end of this year.

Last month as part of phase 2, my Department launched the State’s first draft spatial plan for renewable energy generation, knows as the draft south coast designated maritime area plan, DMAP. The development of further DMAPs in other parts of Ireland's extensive maritime area will follow as part of the Government’s plan-led approach to offshore wind development.

Development of the offshore wind marine planning guidelines is being co-ordinated through a cross-disciplinary working group. The guidelines are being worked on as a matter of urgency and are expected to be finalised by quarter 4 of 2024. In May, my Department published the future framework for offshore renewable energy, setting out the key actions necessary for Ireland to deliver a potential 20 GW of offshore wind by 2040 and 37 GW by 2050.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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What is the timeline for the south coast DMAP to be approved? I hope it is imminent. There is a concern we are not moving quickly enough. I acknowledge it is a considerable body of work to prepare DMAPs and that the south coast one is the first one. However, there is a concern we are not moving quickly enough on the west coast and elsewhere. Is consideration being given to that? Is the Minister aware of that concern? Much of it relates to Ireland's role in sending a signal to the world that we are serious about offshore wind and want to be a leading player in it. That relates also to floating offshore wind. It is about the signals to those who operate in that space.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I have been at a series of international meetings recently on the issue: in Bilbao, the European offshore wind energy conference; in Bruges, where we had a meeting of the north-west energy ministers on the subject; and in Dublin last week with our Scottish colleagues. In all three locations, I sensed broad consensus from industry, regulators and international experts that Ireland is now well placed. Our phase 1 projects have gone through the auction system and two other projects are progressing which were not successful in the auction system. They are in a very good place and are already gone into planning. All six will be in planning this summer. Subject to that coming through, they will be able to be built. We are on track.

On the south coast, the DMAP process took time but has been hugely beneficial. We had some 70 public meetings. About 25 staff in the Department engaged in the past year and a half or so on getting that right and I think it is right. The auction will start this year and I am confident in that phased approach.

We will go into western waters. One of the first projects is Sceirde Rocks in the west. We will do further DMAPs to set us up for the development of floating offshore wind. We will do that in the way that works most effectively for the Irish public as well as the industry. It will be on an experimental basis which allows us to test and develop the technology. In all strands and each of the waters - east, south and west - we are well placed and I am confident we will deliver.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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An issue that comes up consistently is ports infrastructure. Deputy Kenny and others have raised this consistently. It is almost a matter of chicken and egg. The ports need a commitment from developers before they can secure funding; the developers cannot commit when they do not know the infrastructure will be in place. The clock is ticking on these projects, particularly the phase 1 projects and it is phase 1 developers I am talking about. There is an indication ports are in for European funding but they have been unsuccessful in securing such funding in the past. Can the Minister give any assurance they will be successful? Does he have any sense one way or another? If they are not successful, is there a contingency plan? Will the State intervene, as has been the case in other jurisdictions?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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We will. We want to see our ports developing as one of the benefits from offshore wind. I expect the likes of Shannon Foynes Port to be centrally involved in the development of that first project on the west coast.

I expect the Port of Cork to develop and deliver the project it has planning permission for, which is the development of a 200 m berth of 11 m or so depth, an extension of the port in Ringaskiddy to be used as a deployment port for renewables and as a future expansion of the port as we move out from city centre port facilities in Cork. It was with regret the Doyle shipping yard on the other side of Cork Harbour has not decided to proceed. That was a commercial decision. It is a private port and company but I hope they can come back in at a future date because we will see significant development opportunities in our ports area.

Rosslare port is a key next port and Irish Rail is advancing a business case for that. It has been delayed somewhat by the designation of some of the port area within a special protection area by the National Parks and Wildlife Service but we will manage that. We see that as an important port development.

There are other port locations of relevance. Yesterday in one of the committees, Bremore Ireland Port was referred to. Belfast Harbour will be a critical port for us. We need to take an all-Ireland approach on this because Belfast Harbour is already seen as a successful port. Between those four or five port opportunities, I am confident we will have the port capability to deploy the resources we need.