Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I move:

That Dáil Éireann approves the draft South Coast Designated Maritime Area Plan for Offshore Renewable Energy, a copy of which was laid before Dáil Éireann on 26th September, 2024.

On behalf of the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, I welcome this opportunity to seek the support of Deputies for Ireland’s first forward spatial plan for offshore renewable energy. The draft DMAP identifies four maritime areas for accelerated and sustainable deployments of offshore wind off the south coast of Ireland over the next decade.

Today’s debate follows the approval of this motion by the Seanad yesterday. If approved by both Houses of the Oireachtas, the south coast DMAP will represent a landmark event in forward spatial planning in this country. It will signal a fundamental and positive change in how we manage and plan our extensive maritime area.

Protecting the marine environment and biodiversity, while supporting citizens reliant on the sea for their livelihoods, has been central to the creation of this draft plan. It has also been established in co-operation with local communities along the south coast through extensive, wide-reaching and effective consultation. By providing a long-term source of secure indigenous green energy, the south coast DMAP and similar future spatial plans around our coasts will ensure that we in Ireland continue to play our part in addressing the escalating global climate emergency. It is a further response to the twin challenges of energy security and affordability. It will spur regional development and economic opportunities along the south coast and throughout the wider economy.

Today’s motion is the culmination of a successful programme of legislative and policy achievements over the past four years to establish a robust framework for offshore renewable energy development in Ireland. In 2021, Ireland established its first national maritime spatial plan, known as the national marine planning framework, NMPF, and Ireland legislated to positively change the management of our seas and oceans through enactment of the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021. The MAP Act further created the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority to manage and regulate sustainable activities within our seas and oceans.

A further pivotal moment in our clean energy transition was signalled by the results of Ireland’s first offshore wind auction in 2023. This auction procured more than 3,000 MW of potential future offshore wind capacity to power 2.5 million Irish homes with green, secure and affordable energy. To capture the full associated economic opportunities, Powering Prosperity - Ireland’s Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy was published by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment last March. This ambitious strategy puts the development of offshore renewables at the heart of Ireland’s economic growth in the years and decades to come.

To achieve the actions and ambition of this industrial strategy, the Government is working closely with industry to unlock significant investment opportunities and drive forward our renewable energy ambitions.

To co-ordinate and drive the effective delivery of this new sector in Ireland, an all-of-government offshore wind delivery task force was established in 2022, which is successfully mobilising our society to capture this once in a generation opportunity. This includes ensuring that Irish citizens and businesses are equipped with the training and skills that enable Ireland to maximise benefits from the deployment of offshore renewable energy and the wider green energy transition.

Last year, a new plan-led approach to offshore renewables development was adopted by the Government, with the overwhelming support of the Oireachtas. Members of this House informed Government they no longer wanted a developer-led system, and that the designation of appropriate development areas should be led by the State. This decision determined that future offshore wind projects should be located within DMAPs.

We have listened and reacted. The preparation of the south coast DMAP gives effect to this decision. It will also align Ireland with similar plan-led approaches in other European jurisdictions, such as the Netherlands, Denmark and the UK, which are leading global practitioners of offshore wind. In fact, since the Oireachtas made this decision and embarked on the development of this spatial plan, more jurisdictions have followed suit and the overwhelming trend is now for offshore wind to be plan-led.

We are fortunate in Ireland to have already legislated for this approach through the MAP Act, and I want to thank Deputies for their leadership in having the foresight to ensure the legislative and regulatory system was in place. Other countries are still grappling with this. Through evidence-based analysis, the draft DMAP identifies four maritime areas for sustainable deployments of fixed offshore wind off the coast of Waterford and Wexford over the next decade. This includes a maritime area, known as Tonn Nua, which is identified for a 900 MW project to be built by the winner of Ireland's second offshore wind auction. This will commence next year, with terms and conditions to be published following adoption of this DMAP.

The first offshore wind project will contribute to the wider objective that 80% of our electricity needs come from renewable sources by the end of this decade. Fixed offshore wind projects located in the additional three maritime areas will deploy beyond this decade to deliver on our legally binding commitment to achieve a climate neutral economy no later than 2050. These projects will also bolster the energy security of Ireland, safeguarding the electricity needs of our homes, hospitals and businesses.

While the preparation of this draft plan has been led by officials from the Department of the environment, it has been developed as a collaborative cross-government plan supported by expert environmental and technical analysis. It has been further informed by robust environmental assessments and prevents development taking place in those areas of greatest sensitivity. Crucially, the draft DMAP has also been shaped by wide-reaching engagement with local coastal communities and key stakeholders. This continuous engagement has been facilitated through full-time locally based fishing and community liaison officers.

I am pleased to say that the overwhelming sentiment during consultation from people living in these areas was positive. There was an eagerness to capture opportunities that can be accrued locally by this new industry for this and future generations to benefit from. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who met with officials at town hall meetings, in local authority offices, on the quayside, in schools and in their workplaces over the past 12 months. Their views were listened to and have been expressed in this draft plan.

It is critical that the implementation of this plan does not take place at the expense of fishers and the wider seafood sector, which supports jobs and economic activity in local communities along the south coast. Maximising opportunities for successful co-existence with other marine users has been a core objective throughout this process. Local fishers have been consulted extensively over the past 12 months and have positively shaped the preparation of this DMAP. The new plan-led approach adopted by Government will deliver certainty to coastal communities and existing maritime users. It will also bring certainty to Ireland’s burgeoning offshore wind industry, the investment decisions of which will accelerate decarbonisation of our society and economy.

In regard to that, the clear evidence from other jurisdictions illustrates the transformative economic impacts arising from offshore wind and supply chain development. Independent analysis on the south coast DMAP highlights that more than 60% of these opportunities in terms of inward investment and sustainable jobs creation will directly accrue to Cork, Waterford and Wexford. Further societal opportunity will result in the mandatory community benefit funds that must be established by all offshore wind projects in Ireland which are supported through the offshore renewable electricity support scheme. It is a requirement that community benefits funds will be independently managed by local communities for projects identified by those communities.

The plan will be a harbinger of regional development, economic opportunity and societal gain. While the motion before us today is the south coast’s opportunity, it is critical that this will be followed by further DMAPs over the coming years. For the avoidance of doubt, future DMAPs must and will always focus on emerging floating technology, notably off our western seaboard.

The approval of this motion will give effect to the plan-led approach to offshore renewables development in Ireland, supported by this House in May 2023. The establishment of the south coast DMAP is a critical step towards unlocking Ireland’s offshore wind potential, while securing our energy independence and prosperity over the coming decades. Its approval by this House should be considered of strategic national importance.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on the south coast DMAP. This has been quite some time coming. After 15 months, we finally have a plan for offshore wind on the south coast of our island. It is Ireland's first spatial plan for offshore wind and identifies four maritime areas off the south coast for offshore wind development over the next decade. It is welcome.

Offshore renewable energy represents a momentous opportunity not just for Waterford, Cork and Wexford, but for the entire island. It has the potential to generate €3 billion and 32,000 jobs for local economies over the lifetime of the offshore wind projects. Furthermore, it represents a significant step towards reducing our emissions and achieving Irish energy independence.

It is my party's ambition, through the roll-out of renewables, in particular offshore wind, for Ireland to become a net exporter of renewable energy so that our vast natural resources can be translated into national wealth for all. I want to recognise the significant initial steps being taken today towards that goal. It is an initial step that has taken some time to deliver. I want to make it clear that we cannot wait another 15 months for the next DMAP.

Ireland can no longer sit on the sidelines when we sit on the biggest natural offshore wind resource in all of Europe, with some 640 GW of untapped energy potential. While other countries such as Portugal, Scotland, Denmark, Finland, Spain, France and Germany forged ahead, Ireland all but stood still. There have been decades of bad planning, mismanagement and inaction, with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael at the wheel and so much lost opportunity. Ireland cannot continue to squander that opportunity.

Meeting our 2050 target of 37 GW of offshore wind could be worth €38 billion to our economy. It is now widely recognised, however, that the Government's efforts will see Ireland missing our 2030 targets. The fact is that there are serious barriers to progress, barriers this Government has created and seems determined not to correct. Our planning system is slow, adversarial and racked with uncertainty. These problems are so acute that many renewable energy projects fail to make it off the ground. For example, renewable projects are stuck in the planning system for an average of 92 weeks. For a period of more than 14 months, no new project was approved. Alarmingly, the situation is set to get even worse with the Bill that the Government pushed through last night.

To address this, Sinn Féin would undo the damage the planning Bill is set to do. We would also increase the resourcing of State bodies like MARA, An Bord Pleanála, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and local authorities and produce agreed workforce plans between them to address staff shortages. We would ensure alignment between county development policy and national policy for onshore wind and move towards a plan-led approach for solar energy.

Grid constraints as a barrier to Ireland's green energy revolution are a reality. Ireland's electricity grid is not fit for purpose. It is barely managing to cope with its current load and is certainly not fit to handle the ambition of creating an energy-secure and independent Ireland. Since 2016, constraint levels in the north west, for example, have risen from 2.3% to 11.4%. In the west, it has risen from 0.3% to 8.8%, while in the north we have seen the highest level of constraints, going from 2.3% in 2016 to 14.6% in 2023.

This is all lost energy that could have been used to cook meals, run milking parlours, charge cars or even just boil the kettle. Instead, these wind farms had to stop generating or reduce generation and that electricity came from gas. The greater the increase in constraints on our grid, the more carbon emissions we produce and the higher our bills become because of the gas generation brought on stream to replace the constrained wind farms. This is only set to get worse as we attempt to get more renewables on the system. Unlike this Government, Sinn Féin has a plan to address this with our renewable energy investment fund. We would increase investment in our grid. We would also invest in energy storage and issue a national policy statement on that.

Ireland's port infrastructure presents yet another significant challenge when it comes to hitting our 2030 offshore targets. As it stands, there is only one port on the island, namely, Belfast Harbour, with the capacity to deliver offshore renewable energy, ORE, infrastructure. Over the past two years, however, it has been completely taken over by projects from Britain. No other port is ready for offshore wind in Ireland, placing a large question mark over just how we are going to deliver on our targets. With our renewable energy investment fund, Sinn Féin would ramp up investment in Irish ports.

The renewable energy support scheme is an auction-based process that invites renewable energy projects to compete against one other to win contracts to provide electricity at a guaranteed price. As the Minister of State knows, there have been four onshore auctions to date, renewable electricity support scheme, RESS, 1 to 4, and just one for offshore wind, that is, offshore renewable electricity support scheme, ORESS 1. These auctions have been plagued with problems and are already regarded as yet another barrier to developing renewable energy here. Auctions are not happening in the timeline set out by the Government, nor are they delivering the amount of power required to meet our 2030 targets. In addition, the prices they are setting are very high when compared with those in other European countries, meaning consumer bills will remain high. As these prices are index-linked, they are set to rise into the future. We hear from developers the need for a drum beat of auctions but we are not seeing that. I raised this with the senior Minister at committee recently.

As recently as July 2023, the Government aimed to hold ORESS 2.1 before the end of 2023, with final results in early 2024, or so it said. It seems likely, however, that the auction will not be held until the middle of 2025, with results taking a further few months. Planning applications then will not be submitted until late 2026. It is clear, therefore, that an urgent review is needed. Sinn Féin commits to predictable timelines for auctions that are not mired in constant delays. Without urgent change in the scale, pace and ambition for renewable energy, Ireland's aspiration to become a global leader in renewable energy will never become a reality. Sinn Féin's vision for renewable energy on this island represents this change. We have a plan and the political will to do this. We believe the renewable energy transition must be leveraged in a manner that delivers long-term social and economic benefits for families and communities across this island.

The DMAP put forward today is a significant development, which I welcome. A huge amount of work went into preparing these DMAPs and I acknowledge the significant consultation. When we on the Oireachtas committee met with representatives from the Department, we heard from political parties across the board about the need to move at pace in this regard. The need to get this right and to move further with DMAP is something the Minister of State will hear from all contributors who follow me.

It would be remiss of me not to raise the issue of the marine protected areas Bill. This is something that has to happen. These things should happen in parallel. It is deeply regrettable that more progress has not been made in that regard. I heard from the junior Minister with responsibility in this area last week and there were protests outside the Dáil. I commend Fair Seas and others that do really positive and good work in this area. They are an example of the type of collaborative approach we need to take in this area. We do need to see progress in that regard, however, and I hope to see it as soon as possible. It does not look like it is going to happen under this Government, which is deeply disappointing, but it is really important work for whoever takes up that mantle.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I am very pleased to have an opportunity to make a short contribution on what I regard as a very important motion. It is part of a long process in which we in these Houses have been involved for some time. The Minister of State described it as a landmark proposal, and it is. Spatial planning for our marine environment is a relatively new concept. In the past, it was almost a free-for-all in terms of the territorial waters but, now, the State is actually designating where activities are appropriate and proper, in consultation. All of that is to be welcomed.

The objective of this motion, obviously, is to identify four maritime areas for designated marine area plans off the Wexford and Waterford coasts. As I said, so far, so good. This is really important. The consultation at local level is important, as is the overwhelming support the Minister of State has garnered for this development, because it is an essential part of our future. We really need to decarbonise, and the potential is there to do a really good job. So far, so good. I have nothing but positive things to say. Then I put in the "but". The "but" is that the Government is great at drafting the plans, talking them through the Dáil and garnering support for this. The problem now is in the doing of it. It really is important.

I can speak very clearly from a Wexford perspective. Wexford is ready and eager to go. The communities of Wexford, the South East Technological University and Wexford County Council have all been engaged in preparing for offshore renewable energy for a very long time. What we do not have is onshore infrastructure ready in time. The previous speaker mentioned the fact that there is only one port on the island available to service offshore energy. I chair the economics committee of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly and we carried out an analysis of that. In fact, the Department made a very positive contribution to those deliberations, as did its British counterparts. We visited ports across these islands. There are basically two ports that can service these particular designated areas now. One is in Belfast and the other is in Liverpool. It is just not good enough that we have no designated port capable of servicing these sites in our own jurisdiction. The Minister of State might refer to Rosslare Europort. We are desperately anxious to make Rosslare the designated port to service offshore energy off the coasts of counties Wicklow, Wexford and Waterford. It is the logical place for it. The only investment that has gone in there now - there is currently very significant investment of €250 million or a little bit more - is made up entirely of Brexit adjustment funds coming from the European Union. There is no state aid or support from Ireland. It is not the pivotal expansion that is needed to ensure we have a vibrant support base for offshore energy that would be very jobs-rich for the south east generally. We need to improve our rail infrastructure into Rosslare. We are talking about it. I am talking to a Green Party Minister of State; rail should be in his heart. Where are the plans and investment to ensure that the rail infrastructure is capable of servicing this critically important energy source and industry for our nation for the next 20, 30, 40 and 50 years? That is the timeframe in which we should be thinking and investing.

My view on this is very straightforward and I speak passionately, I hope, for the people of Wexford. We want this to succeed. We see this as our future. However, we cannot do that unless the Government is not a hands-off observer. I have spoken to senior Ministers in the Government who tell me they cannot really pick a winner in terms of ports. If we do not pick a winner, we will not have a winner. I talk to the industry suppliers. I have gone to their conferences. They are desperately anxious for us to have a port that is capable, that they can see right now, so that when they are putting in their multi-billion euro investments, they know they are backing a winner. I hope that when this motion is passed today, as it will be with the enthusiastic support of this House, the basic onshore infrastructure, in terms of a port in Rosslare, the rail links into it and the general infrastructure to support what must be a critical part of our future, is in place.