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being met in the near term and there are plans to move to net zero by 2050. The deployment of renewable electricity, including wind energy, is vital to Ireland meeting its ambitious domestic targets and international commitments. The commencement of Chapters 1 to 4, inclusive, of Part … guidelines will, however, remain in force until revoked or replaced by a corresponding national planning statement. Subsequently, this means new guidance on wind energy development will issue as a national planning statement following review of the existing 2006 wind energy development guidelines. While this has been ongoing

last week of this session and we still do not have them. It is absolutely outrageous that we are developing onshore wind energy with planning guidelines that are 20 years old. It is crazy. How are we supposed to be taken seriously in respect of climate change … wind turbine developments in County Mayo deserve better. These communities are crying out for national guidelines that will force the developers of these wind energy facilities to adhere to guidelines. In the absence of such guidelines, however, it is like a free-for-all. These communities deserve respect

Progress has been made in this regard. The Department is working towards the publication of a wind energy national planning statement as a matter of priority. The programme for Government commits to prioritising publication and review of the guidelines, which will form a national planning statement. The Department … finalise a national planning statement having regard to evolving policy, public consultations and technical contexts while having appropriate regard to the impact of wind energy developments. It is imperative that a robust up-to-date policy is provided that will take account of the evolved policy and legislative

that. It makes no sense that we live on a windy island on the edge of Europe yet are so far behind on wind energy and solar energy. We have put forward proposals to increase the grants for solar panels to help households permanently reduce their electricity bills … street parking. Years later, it just has not got around to that. That is before we talk about the inability to develop wind energy. There is no one from Fine Gael in the Chamber but it is 15 years since Fine Gael took office and we have

renewables is this Government. We have been told for years that Ireland is going to become the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy - of wind energy. Yet, in recent times, we have become a net importer of electricity. We are going in the opposite direction to the rhetoric that … cynical in relation to this. This Government has had six offshore wind conferences since 2021. We have no offshore wind energy generation. Not one turbine is operating in this country. The Government is brilliant at developing conferences, brochures, plans and policies. Sticking a turbine in the sea does

interest and active involvement in this issue. I am consistently on the record on the importance of publishing new guidelines in relation to wind energy and wind farms. I am a believer, as I believe the Deputy said he was, in the switch to renewable energy … national planning statement in relation to this issue. That needs to provide certainty and clarity on who can and cannot build a wind farm, where they can be built, the distance, the flicker and a number of the other issues the Deputy has raised. I hear different things

united Ireland, an island where indigenous businesses thrive and grow alongside foreign direct investment, where we have energy security by maximising our offshore wind energy opportunities, and where companies have incentives to decarbonise. The purpose of this Bill is not to predetermine any constitutional outcome but to ensure

independence and environmental advancement. Imagine being able to share the wind turbine construction capabilities of Belfast Port. Imagine being able to divert unused wind energy across the island. Reunification offers an opportunity to take the measures that we need to ensure a sustainable future and to take

ever-increasing, and already huge, electricity bills. We want to do renewable energy in a very different way. Rather than excessive commodification of energy for profit, we would treat it as a public good and translate that into national wealth, increased community ownership, proper consultation and fair … supposed to be in the Atlantic economic corridor. That has to mean more than just a phrase. The opportunities there for offshore wind energy generation would alleviate all of this, help us to meet our targets and do what we need to do in the first place

considering these figures, it is not hard to see why. Yet, at the very same time, huge amounts of renewable energy are just being wasted. There are wind turbines all over this country that are being switched off because our electricity grid cannot manage the energy that they … using electric vehicles as quasi batteries to store the energy. We could indeed just put large-scale batteries on every wind farm to store that energy rather than wasting it. The technology is there but the Government, for some reason, is stubbornly refusing to actually consider

medical cards but cannot afford health insurance. We need to bring in a windfall tax to be imposed on the large energy companies, including the wind farm owners where there are high profits, once profits go over a certain amount. That money should be used and ploughed into

move ahead of it. That is exactly what we are doing in this area with the likes of those green energy courses, renewables and the wind turbine maintenance course that is provided now in Tralee, and many others, which are fundamental to fulfilling that training need

step away from that. We have to ramp up solar and wind generation. However, we can only do that if people get behind it. The Deputies who are contributing and criticising the Government for energy prices are the same Deputies who will object to renewables and to solar

talent to do that - everything from retrofitting to green energy technicians and renewable energy engineers. I was in Munster Technological University, MTU, in Tralee recently and visited the centre where offshore wind turbine mechanics are being trained up on a new course there. We also have a centre

being absolutely devastated by the record global temperatures. We need to have energy self-sufficiency, which will have to be renewable, but also interchangeable across the grid between the French nuclear, the Irish wind and wave, and the solar, especially coming from the Mediterranean states. We have … global card. On security, we again have a constructive role to play in strengthening EU co-operation on all sorts of security - energy security, which relates to the conflict in Ukraine; and cybersecurity, because again there are many malicious elements out there trying to attack European member states

make energy cheaper in this country if we continue to rely on fossil fuels and just keep chasing the price by reducing excise duty and carbon taxes. What we need is a radical approach, a revolution of renewables. That means doing the necessary on offshore wind, realising that … scrappage scheme to ensure the electric vehicle revolution we need. As others have said, we also need the reintroduction of targeted energy credits in the next budget to ensure that heating our homes and businesses is more affordable in the interim, as we make that move to renewables

months and cannot see any way out of it. Today, 1 July, bills are going up again. Electric Ireland, the State's largest energy provider, is putting up its prices, which means average households will pay an extra €138 on their bills. Some 1.1 million customers will … incredibly large amount of money and we can see why people find it so difficult to make do. All the while, there are wind turbines all over the country being switched off at night or when there are constraints on the grid because the grid cannot take

wrong reasons in terms of the price of electricity. Barnardos has found that one third of Irish households went into arrears on energy bills in the past 12 months. That is astounding. According to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, 500,000 Irish households are in arrears … incentivising are sucking up all available electricity. We have bottlenecks, constraints and dispatch down notices, which mean we are now actually paying for wind farms in Ireland to switch off electricity output. It is mind-bending stuff. We are paying for electricity companies not to produce electricity

doing all I can in that space. We have a number of courses in plumbing, electrical, heat pump installation, site supervision, offshore wind turbine maintenance and many others. There is also the adoption more widely of MMC. Specialist and technical skills are very important but other skills … under the green skills agenda, is making sure that the workforce is equipped to deliver the retrofit programmes and the next generation of energy efficient homes, and of course to take the full opportunity that renewable energy presents to us here in Ireland

Ward asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the position regarding any initiative that seeks to expedite the construction of offshore wind energy infrastructure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54395/26

Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the position regarding the number of planned offshore wind farms; the stages of progression that they are at in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54397/26

Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the proportion of the 2030 target for onshore wind that has been achieved (energised) to date in 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54738/26

Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the proportion of the 2030 target for offshore wind that has been achieved (energised) to date in 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54739/26

Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the proportion of the 2030 target for offshore wind capacity specifically for renewable hydrogen that has been achieved (energised) to date in 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54741/26

Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment to outline the dates on which each subgroup of the wind delivery taskforce met offshore in each of the years since the taskforce's inception, in tabular form. [50414/26

Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the position regarding any further initiatives proposed by his Department to increase the support for offshore wind infrastructure in coastal communities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54396/26

Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment to provide a detailed breakdown of the funding he has allocated to accelerate the delivery of offshore wind broken down by programme in each of the years from 2020 to date, in tabular form; to report