Minister Darragh O'Brien's address at the Wind Energy Ireland Offshore Wind Conference

Check against delivery

I want to start by thanking Noel and his team at Wind Energy Ireland for inviting me to be a part of this important conference and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to speak to you today about both my own and this government's strong ambitions for Ireland's offshore future. Our Programme for Government places a renewed focus on sustainable development, environmental protection, and economic growth.

This government sees the transformative potential of Ireland's offshore renewable sector, and we are taking action to unlock its key potential. Earlier this month, I was pleased to announce that work has commenced on our new accelerated National Designated Maritime Area Plan (DMAP) for offshore renewable energy. This supports our decarbonisation ambitions and our offshore renewables target of 20GW by 2040. Having a single National DMAP will accelerate the process of site designation for offshore renewable energy and will provide greater certainty for our marine stakeholders and the renewables industry. And indeed we have our second offshore wind auction, which will be taking place in the coming months.

With a maritime area 7 times the size of our land area, this represents a crucial step in harnessing one of Ireland’s greatest natural resources and achieving our challenging climate targets.

Through the Offshore Wind Delivery Taskforce, 16 government department and state agencies are working together to remove bottlenecks and speed up project delivery. The involvement and contribution of both Wind Energy Ireland and industry within the taskforce will play an increasingly important part as we move forward.

There are some very encouraging numbers in our green transition – it is estimated that renewables provided 40% of our electricity demand in 2024. In terms of solar energy, while just under 3% of total electricity came from solar for the month of March – this is up from 0.6% just a few short years ago.

Ireland is already a wind energy success story in terms of onshore wind deployment. Onshore wind farms provided 48% of Ireland’s power last February, and last January, a significant milestone was reached, when the State reached over 5GW of installed wind capacity and it is my ambition to achieve the same success in Offshore.

As the state looks to roll-out offshore wind, five advanced-stage 'phase one projects' will deliver a combined capacity of 3,800 MW of renewable energy. These major projects will make a sizeable contribution to our energy and climate targets.

I also want to assure you that Government is committed to the development of our Phase One projects. These flagships Phase One projects will make a sizeable contribution to our 5GW target, and that all these Phase One Project have now submitted applications to An Bord Pleanála is a significant milestone.

We know the delivery of major infrastructure by the private sector can also take time, and sometimes up to a decade of decision points around project investigation and design, permitting, investment decisions, sub-contracting and construction.

At present, global energy markets are also operating in an increasingly complex world. Markets still continue to grapple with the Russia–Ukraine war, the crisis in the Middle East, and persistent high inflation.

The offshore wind sector, for example, has been battling rising costs over the past few years stemming from supply chain constraints and higher interest rates.

And while challenges may lead to near-term setbacks, the fundamentals underpinning the global energy transition remain strong – and the long-term growth of the wind energy sector is certain. The government remains committed to the development of 5GW (gigawatts) of offshore wind capacity, with projects in construction by 2030, and energised as soon as feasible thereafter.

The historic milestone that was reached at COP 28 in Dubai - where almost 200 governments agreed on the need to triple renewable energy capacity globally and double energy efficiency improvements by 2030 must be followed through.

And in the medium term, this government remains committed to the development of 5GW of offshore wind capacity, with projects in construction by 2030, and energised as soon as feasible thereafter.

As we prepare to advance the roll-out of offshore wind, it’s also important to reference the significant achievement we have already made - and we have made huge strides in a short amount of time.

As part of the previous government, we undertook the most comprehensive review and overhaul of marine legislation and governance in Ireland’s history. As Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, I launched the National Marine Planning Framework in 2021 and the Maritime Area Planning Act was passed by the Oireachtas in 2021, a ground-breaking piece of legislation which is now operational.

I also established the new regulatory authority, the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, in 2023, the State's independent body responsible for the sustainable management of Ireland’s maritime area and a key enabler in respect of Ireland’s ambitions for the ORE sector. Creating a world-class marine planning and regulatory environment will send the right signals to industry and investors.

Large infrastructure projects have been completed or are underway – The Greenlink Interconnector has been completed, doubling the State's interconnection capacity to 1 Gigawatt and has the capacity to power up to 380,000 homes.

The Celtic Interconnector, which will connecting the electricity grids of Ireland and France, is progressing apace.

We are investing significantly into our grid to support the transition to a cleaner, more secure system to accommodate growing renewable energy sources, €4 billion was invested in the onshore grid over the past five years.

Last year, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund committed €88.5 million to enhance the infrastructure at the Port of Cork - which will help ensure it has the capabilities to support the assembly, storage and deployment of offshore wind projects.

Many of our other ports like Dublin, Waterford, Shannon Foynes will also play a vital role in delivering the government’s offshore targets and can become future hubs for green industry investment.

The State's second offshore – the Tonn Nua auction, will be held later this year, which will procure a further 900 MW of capacity from the state’s first spatial plan for offshore wind – the South Coast DMAP.

Following the Tonn Nua auction, the state will look to bring forward the remaining three sites within the South Coast DMAP, ensuring that a consistent pipeline of offshore developments will take place over the coming years. I know a consistent pipeline of project will be important to industry, and it is also important to ensure we continue to build and indigenous supply chain.

I am pleased to announce today, that my department has now procured extensive geotechnical data for the Tonn Nua site. This data will help to significantly de-risk the Tonn Nua auction site - ensuring a competitive auction process and as well as increased certainty to developers.

The data includes detailed information on seabed conditions and subsurface geology essential for the design, planning and installation of offshore wind infrastructure. Officials from my department are currently working to ensure that this data will be made available in the coming days and communicated to the appropriate channels.

Today, I am also pleased to announce the publication of our Future Framework 2025 Review. The review includes specific progress on each of our actions, and also includes an updated action plan for the coming year – which will reaffirm the government’s commitment to our long-term ambitions.

Over the past 12 months, substantial progress has been made on these actions and a significant achievement contained within the Future Framework Review is publication of the Offshore Wind Technical Resource Assessment. This Technical Resource Assessment is also being published by my department today.

This assessment provides a detailed analysis and recommendations for the development of commercial fixed and floating offshore - providing an evidence base for future planning. It is important initial step in providing an evidence base for policymakers when considering the future development of our coastlines. Considerations such environmental impacts and social constraints will then be evaluated as part of upcoming national DMAP, which will include significant public consultation and rigorous analysis of maritime and environmental data.

Having met with the Climate Advisory Council of Ireland and many other stakeholders across various sectors, it is clear that we have a shared focus on accelerating renewables at pace.

The expansion in renewables will not just address climate change – it will mean growth and development for many local and rural communities. And it is vital that we bring local communities along with us so they can understand the benefit of a renewable future.

We know that meeting Ireland's 2050 offshore wind energy targets could contribute at least €38 billion to the economy and create thousands of new jobs.

We have seen evidence from our neighbours in the UK and in Norway and Denmark, of how offshore renewable development can not only provide investment to local towns and communities – but it can also revitalise and rejuvenate entire towns and communities - towns and communities which were previously been left behind and in areas which have been overlooked for decades.

Finally, I want to sincerely thank everyone for coming along today. My colleagues across Government look forward to sharing more details of our plans with many of you over the next 2 days.