'Car crash' planning system continues to hinder Irish renewable energy development

These comments were made at an Oireachtas committee discussing the EU Legislative proposal for the Net-Zero Industry Act.

Head of infrastructure, energy and environment Neil Walker said Ireland is suffering capacity restraints around green energy development because the country’s “planning system is a car crash and it desperately needs to be reformed”.

Cork has the potential to be a mass producer of hydrogen but a “car crash” planning system is hindering development, an enterprise committee has heard.

Catherine Joyce-O’Caollai, co-chair of the Policy Working Group with Hydrogen Ireland, told the committee that the plans for offshore wind off the coast of Cork and in the Shannon estuary have the potential to produce hydrogen at scale.