Climate & Environment

Eamon Ryan: An offshore wind energy free-for-all will not work for the collective good

A plan-led approach will deliver a sustainable long-term ocean energy industry, attract investment, protect the environment and maximise the benefit to society, as well as providing economic gain

Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan: ‘What coastal communities don’t want, or need, is Klondike-like prospecting and a potentially wasteful free-for-all on our seas.’ Picture: Fergal Phillips

When this government was formed, the three parties signed up to an ambitious programme for government which included the delivery of 5 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030. That would be adequate for our own needs, but the programme went further by developing a framework for the delivery of 30GW of offshore wind by 2050.

The easy part of this is to write targets in a document, or to repeat them in a soundbite. ...