Research published December 2025
Lead researchers and institution:
Prof. Wesley Flannery, Prof. Geraint Ellis, Dr Christina Kelly and Dr Lindsey West, Queen’s University Belfast*
* RTPI-accredited planning school
Funders
This project is part of PERMAGOV, a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
Note: Findings and recommendations reflect the views of the researchers at the time of writing and are not necessarily the views of the RTPI
Key takeaways
- The renewable energy transition is a “wicked problem” involving complex, interlinked challenges.
- Offshore wind development spans multiple policy domains and creates both opportunities and risks for environmental and socio-economic systems.
- Governance challenges include fragmented structures and policy incoherence in Ireland, and inadequate alignment across regions and governance scales in the UK.
- Policy briefs for Ireland and the UK propose actionable pathways, identify key actors, and outline capacity needs for sustainable offshore wind governance.
Summary
PERMAGOV: Improving Performance of EU Marine Governance is a Horizon Europe and UKRI-funded research project that aims to strengthen marine governance across European Seas to better meet the goals and objectives established in the European Green Deal (EGD), as well as national marine policy goals.
Using the Multi-Layered Collaborative Marine Governance Model (MLCMG), PERMAGOV examines enabling and constraining conditions for implementing EGD objectives across four key areas:
- marine energy
- maritime transport
- marine life
- marine plastics
Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) leads the Celtic Sea case study, focusing on the development of offshore wind energy (OWE).
OWE is a complex governance challenge – often described as a “wicked problem” – because it spans multiple policy domains and generates both positive and negative environmental and socio-economic impacts. Research in the Irish and UK jurisdictions of the Celtic Sea reflects these global complexities.
Through extensive stakeholder engagement, QUB identified governance challenges:
- Ireland: fragmented governance and policy incoherence across offshore energy, marine biodiversity, fisheries, ports and maritime security.
- UK: competing interests and fragmented decision-making across governance scales and inadequate resources for regional planning and delivery.
To address these, QUB produced policy briefs for each jurisdiction, outlining improvement pathways, key actors, and required capabilities for effective marine governance.
Full references
Kelly, C. (2025) ‘Policy Brief: Accelerating the delivery of offshore wind energy in Ireland’s maritime area’, case study 5 of the PERMAGOV research project. Available at Accelerating the delivery of offshore wind energy in Ireland’s maritime area
West, L. and Farrington, N. (2025) ‘Policy Brief: Regional governance for a sustainable floating offshore wind (FLOW) industry in the UK’s Celtic Sea’, case study 5 of the PERMAGOV research project. Available at Regional governance for a sustainable floating offshore wind (FLOW) industry in the UK’s Celtic Sea
Links to published outputs
- Irish Policy Brief: Accelerating the delivery of offshore wind energy in Ireland’s maritime area
- UK Policy Brief: Regional governance for a sustainable floating offshore wind (FLOW) industry in the UK’s Celtic Sea
- Further PERMAGOV outputs: https://www.permagov.eu/results
