Irish Government News

Gavin & Doherty Geosolutions (GDG), a specialist engineering consultant, is undertaking an EU-wide study to determine potential funding models to improve Irish port infrastructure to the scale required to achieve the Government target of 7 GW of offshore wind in Irish waters by 2030. It follows GDG’s recent National Ports Study, conducted on behalf of Wind Energy Ireland, which found that only one out of 13 major ports on the island of Ireland is ready to be used for constructing offshore wind farms.

Post-Brexit trade frictions have "significantly altered" freight traffic between Ireland and Britain and sparked a steep rise in volumes to and from Ireland and other European Union members, an Irish government agency report said on Thursday.The introduction of checks on some goods since neighboring Britain left the EU's trading orbit on Dec. 31 cut imports from Britain by 35% in the first five months of 2021 while the number of shipping routes to mainland Europe more than doubled.So…

Ireland's new marine research vessel due to enter service in 2022 will be named the RV Tom Crean, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue announced. "I am delighted to announce the name of Ireland's new marine research vessel is the RV Tom Crean, acknowledging the contribution of a legendary Irish Explorer," McConalogue said.Tom Crean was a renowned seaman and explorer who undertook three major groundbreaking expeditions to the Antarctic in the early years of the 20th Century which sought to increase scientific knowledge and to explore unreached areas of the world…

French electricity giant Électricité de France (EDF) is moving into the Irish energy market.EDF Renewables, a subsidiary of the French energy utility, has acquired a 50% stake in the Codling offshore wind project from Hazel Shore, a company linked to the property developer, Johnny Ronan.EDF Renewables will develop and build the project alongside Fred Olsen Renewables, which owns the other 50% stake in 1100MW Codling Wind ParkIt is the first investment by the international energy player in the Republic.The Codling project is located south of Dublin, 13 km off the coast of County Wicklow thus benefiting from the favorable conditions for offshore wind off the east coast of Ireland. The initial development work started in 2003.

Ireland-based energy company Electricity Supply Board (ESB) and Norwegian energy company Equinor plan to jointly develop offshore wind sites and enter them into the country's renewable energy auctions from the mid-2020s.The partnership will work to identify suitable sites for new offshore windfarms in Irish waters and work to mature potential future wind projects. The potential for energy storage technology and other technologies to complement offshore wind operations will also be examined. It is the ambition of the partnership to explore opportunities for large scale wind projects towards commercial operation by 2030, thus contributing to the wider goals of the Irish Government on energy transition.Furthermore…

Despite some 7,000 miles separating Ireland and Hawaii, the two islands have a lot in common. The islands’ peoples have always looked to their respective oceans for resources, inspiration and opportunity. Today, Irish company Ocean Energy announced its wave energy convertor OE Buoy will be built by Oregon-based Vigor and deployed at the U.S. Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site on the windward coast of the Hawaiian Island of O’ahu in the fall of 2018. The contract value is $6.5 million out of a total project value of $12 million for this first of a kind grid scale project at the U.S.

The Irish government said on Thursday it had awarded oil and gas licences to companies including oil majors Eni, Exxon and Statoil , allowing them to explore for hydrocarbons off the coast of Ireland. The energy ministry has awarded 14 new licences as a first phase of a tender for offshore blocks that gives companies access to new exploration areas for two years, it said. The round attracted 43 applications. "This is by far the largest number of applications received in any licensing round held in the Irish offshore," said Joe McHugh, Ireland's minister for communications, energy and natural resources, in a statement. Oil prices have fallen around 70 percent since a peak in mid-2014 and many large oil companies…

Plans to sail a replica of an Irish famine-era ship across the Atlantic have been abandoned for the second year running because the vessel is still not seaworthy. The decision to call off plans to sail the "Jeanie Johnston" to North America this year was taken at a board meeting of the project organizers after a marine expert reported the vessel would not be ready in time. The ship was originally due to sail from Tralee on Ireland's southwest coast in May last year, but the voyage was postponed until 2001 because of delays in fitting out the three-masted barque. The project has so far cost around 10 million Irish pounds ($10.96 million), and has been supported by the Irish government, European Union and private donations.

The Irish government approved a $262 million tunnel-building scheme designed to divert port traffic away from the traffic-choked center of Dublin. The tunnel will provide a direct motorway access to Dublin's port, linking it to the main Dublin-Belfast route. It will remove heavy goods vehicle traffic from the city center, currently clogged by almost two million trucks each year. Work on the project is expected to begin at the end of next year and take some three and a half years to complete.

Irish Ferries is offering voluntary severance package to its 543 seafaring employees on its Irish Sea services between Dublin/Holyhead and Rosslare/Pembroke. These offers of voluntary severance for those who wish to leave the company are supported by packages to compensate staff who choose to continue in employment on the ships for any changes in work practices required of them. The decision results from Irish Ferries’ inability to continue its operations at its current high cost base in the face of low cost shipping competition and increased capacity from low fares airlines. In 2002, the company indicated to staff and unions that its costs position was untenable.