Energy infrastructure

Higher off the ground would be more expensive, larger foundations and longer and stronger supports.

They're for-profit companies and will have done their sums. The fact that they still pay for someone to cut/spray should tell you all you need to know about the grazing option. It's purely for greenwashing lipservice and not in line with cost effective management.

The sheep will sell for the same money grazing elsewhere.

Unless the sheep are there anyway, there's transport costs, fencing costs, flock management costs, costs for checking them daily, dipping/dosing costs etc. It all adds up.

VS tipping by once a month for a quick mow/spray.

If the landowners wanted to farm sheep, they'd do so, instead of flogging their grounds to the highest bidding developers.

Just on the solar farm I'm tendering for the maintenance of has a) removed countless km of hedgerows, b) opened kms of drains in the bog to drain water away, c) disturbed the bog to put in new roads and solar infrastructure, d) have a requirement for no grazing animals, e) no restriction on any chemicals to be used in site maintenance

If you're a naiive optimist you can email your FFG TDs https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/contact-us/ asking something like:

"In light of the current fuel crisis and ongoing climate crisis, what plans does your government have to expedite the offshore wind projects in the Irish and Celtic Seas and to reduce our external fossil energy dependency?"

Barry Ward got the following answer from the Minister in the Dáil

QUESTION

To ask the Minister for Climate; Energy and the Environment the position regarding any initiative within his Department that seeks to prioritise the fast-tracking of offshore wind energy infrastructure; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

REPLY

Developing Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) is both complex and challenging, and there are many interdependent stakeholders with a role to play.

My Department oversees the Offshore Wind Delivery Taskforce (OWDT) which brings together 16 Government Departments, agencies and industry representatives with a role in developing the sector to progress and align activity. The Department also participates in the Taoiseach’s Offshore Clearing House, which seeks to enable delivery of offshore wind projects.

The Programme for Government commits to fast-tracking offshore wind development by prioritising publication of Designated Maritime Area Plans (DMAPs). To this end, a South Coast DMAP (SC-DMAP) implementation workstream has been established within the OWDT and a dedicated Implementation group has been established within my Department to oversee progress on the SCDMAP.

A successful auction for development of the 900MW Tonn Nua site, the first SC-DMAP site, was held in Q4, 2025.

In tandem with implementing the SC-DMAP, my Department is developing a National DMAP that will identify a pipeline of offshore renewable energy development sites throughout Ireland's maritime area. There are a number of engagements scheduled for 2026 as the draft National DMAP is developed for public consultation.

The Programme for Government also commits to ensuring relevant agencies are sufficiently resourced to accommodate offshore activities. This includes consenting and permitting authorities and agencies responsible for developing the grid.

The Government has committed to the prioritisation of renewable energy projects by consenting bodies, including applications for developments, within timelines mandated by the recently recast Renewable Energy Directive.

Furthermore, in December 2025, I announced an unprecedented investment in grid development of up to €18 billion for the 2026-2030 period.

The developer-led Phase One of offshore wind energy projects is well underway and, in addition to the aforementioned initiatives, will ensure that developments are expedited as quickly as possible.

I doubt if the government will do anything that would be seen to influence ACP and could be used as the basis for the inevitable JRs. But I would like to seen them resourcing and prioritising the JR side of things so that that only takes months instead of years. I also hope anyone who takes a JR against these projects is identified and analysed to the same degree that the Charlemont JR group and motorway blockaders were.