An Cosantóir

22 | IMERC: Dr Valerie Cummins (Director IMERC) with her Naval Service colleague Lt Niamh Ni Fharthartha (NS) Developing a Maritime Ireland by Wesley Bourke Photos by Armn Neville Coughlan & A/Sea Davey Jones IMERC (Irish Maritime and Energy Resource Cluster) was amongst the projects put forward for An Taoiseach's Public Service Excellence Awards 2012 after the organisation was singled out for demonstrating innovation and excellence across the full breadth of state services. An Cosantóir met with IMERC Director Dr Valerie Cummins, and Strategy Co-ordinator Lt Niamh Ní Fhatharta, to find out exactly what IMERC is, its vision for a maritime state; and how the Naval Service is involved. Not only do we sometimes forget that we live on an island, many people are unaware that we have the largest maritime area of any EU country, at the landequivalent of 220 million acres. However, we only derive 1% of our GDP from the maritime sector. This compares poorly with the UK (5%), Denmark (11%), and Norway (20%), as examples. By properly harnessing our maritime resources Ireland has the potential to become a leading global actor in the maritime sector, and in turn stimulate enormous growth for the state. For example, the South Porcupine Basin off the west coast is the site of a major gas field that could yield €5 billion in revenue. Other significant potentials exist in the marine renewable energy sector. A recent FORFAS report estimated that there is the potential for 52,000 jobs in the marine sector in Ireland by 2030, and in a time of economic downturn these are surely very promising figures. This maritime potential has not gone unnoticed by the government. Several initiatives have been launched to encourage growth and development in the sector, such as the Making it Happen Strategy, the IDA Strategy, the Smart Ocean Consultation Strategy, the Energy White Paper, the Ocean Energy Strategy, the Sea Change Strategy, Irelands submissions to the EU Integrated Maritime Policy and the Atlantic Strategy, the work of the cross-governmental Marine Co-ordination Group, and IMERC. IMERC is a strategic national initiative mainly consistAn Cosantóir May 2013 www.dfmagazine.ie ing of a tri-partnership between University College Cork (UCC), Cork Institute of Technology (CIT), and the Naval Service. The Cluster also features industry partners, foreign direct investment client (FDIs) and various academia and research groups. The UCC Bord Gais Beaufort Laboratory will be built beside the National Maritime College of Ireland in Ringaskiddy and will become the UCC footprint in the IMERC campus. (The new laboratory will house the largest marine renewable energy research group in the world.) It is envisaged that IMERC will be an engine for new ideas through research that will translate into sustainable innovative enterprises of the future. "When I started off in UCC there was no marine research centre in the country," Dr Cummins told us. "IMERC developed from all of us looking at the opportunities in the maritime sector. For example, we have the best wave-energy regime in the world off the west coast of Ireland, as well as the best resources and excellent academic knowledge base to underpin it. Plus we have the best eight out of the top ten technology device based companies here in Ireland, which means that we really have a competitive edge. So this is about seeing the strategic opportunity and putting the foundations for that in place now for future generations." IMERC sees new opportunities existing in the development of niche products and services targeted towards global growth sectors, such as marine renewable energy, shipping, logistics and transport, marine

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