Taoiseach tells French summit that Ireland aims to become exporter of energy

Ireland’s aim is to become an energy exporter but it remains vulnerable currently because of its dependence on imported fossil fuels, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has declared.

Speaking at a French summit of 40 world leaders, Mr Martin said Ireland’s “way out” of dependence on foreign supplies will rely on offshore wind, especially “floating” turbines, green hydrogen and greater storage.

“So we see the sea is offering us solutions to deal with the wider challenge of course of climate change itself. What is critical as well is that we do all of this in partnership with our coastal communities and with our fishers.”

The State must work with fishermen to ensure that they can “co-habitate” with offshore wind, and that sustainable fisheries are built in partnership with Atlantic and European Union partners.

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World leaders gathered in the city of Brest for the One Ocean Summit – billed as the first of its type – to discuss maritime issues, decarbonising shipping and reducing plastic pollution.

Speaking during a session with French president Emmanuel Macron, Mr Martin said that Ireland wanted to move to a stage where the country was exporting energy but was currently vulnerable because of a reliance on imported fossil fuels.

The Taoiseach said Ireland wanted to “get into a stage where we will be exporting energy”.

“We are developing interconnection, we will soon have an interconnector with France and with Wales, and we see that as our future to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.”

He hailed the summit as being a “significant achievement”.

“It underlines the importance of multilateral fora and heads of state coming together to prioritise the sea, the oceans and in many respects, I think we should continue to have this high-level engagement.

“From the Irish perspective we are an island state off the North Atlantic, our maritime area is seven times our landmass, and this session is titled solutions that can come from the sea.”

Research

Mr Martin also outlined plans to focus on new maritime research.

“Ireland is very committed to research and working with our European partners. We want to expand our research capacity and our collective research capacity. We are developing new capacity in that regard. We have a new multipurpose research vessel coming on-stream, named after one of our famous Antarctic explorers Tom Crean. The sea is in our blood.”

The Fianna Fáil leader said that there were opportunities particularly in the area of offshore wind.

“Right now Ireland consumes electricity which is up to 43 per cent generated by renewables. Our target to 2030 is to get to 80 per cent, and that will be dependent on the offshore wind technologies.

“We have moved quickly to create a new legislative framework around a streamlined permitting system in terms of consents and so forth. That legislation has passed. We are creating a new regulatory agency to govern the development of offshore wind and renewables.”