Ireland’s slow progress on offshore wind development is leaving the State exposed to repeated energy shocks and rising electricity costs, according to Professor Aoife Foley of The University of Manchester.
Writing in the Irish Examiner, Foley says Ireland has failed to match the pace of countries such as Denmark in developing offshore renewable energy and wider energy infrastructure.
“Denmark began offshore wind in 1991 and scaled continuously,” Foley writes. “Ireland began at Arklow Bank in 2003 and has yet to scale meaningfully.”
The professor argues that Ireland repeatedly identifies risks early but delays decisions until crises intensify and become more expensive to address.
“The same pattern repeats,” she writes. “Risks are visible early. But decisions are delayed.”
Foley says the current Gulf crisis has once again exposed Ireland’s dependence on imported fossil fuels, particularly gas, which frequently sets the wholesale price of electricity under the EU marginal pricing system.
“In Ireland, that is very often gas,” she writes, warning that international energy volatility quickly feeds into Irish household and business costs.
The article points to the decline of the Kinsale gas field as another missed opportunity in long-term energy planning.
Production ceased around 2020 without a replacement storage strategy, despite the field potentially being repurposed to provide significant gas storage capacity.
“Storage was treated as a commercial issue rather than a strategic requirement,” Foley writes.
The article also links Ireland’s energy challenges to wider governance and infrastructure delays, including MetroLink and the National Children’s Hospital project.
Foley contrasts Ireland’s delivery model with Denmark and Switzerland, arguing that fragmented responsibility is slowing progress.
“Denmark simplifies it. Switzerland localises it,” she writes. “Ireland distributes responsibility.”
She says Ireland must accelerate offshore wind deployment, grid upgrades, energy storage and system resilience if it is to reduce exposure to future energy crises.
“These are standard features of systems that work,” Foley writes.
Professor Aoife Foley is chair in Net Zero Infrastructure at The University of Manchester. Read more in the Irish Examiner here
