Fine Gael presidential hopeful Seán Kelly and his policy adviser hosted a renewable energy event for the same adviser’s former lobbyist employer.
Kelly and his adviser, a former policy head at Wind Energy Ireland, are heavily involved in promoting the interests of the wind energy industry.
The former GAA president confirmed last week he’s seeking support from his party colleagues to run for president.
It wasn’t the first time
Niall Goodwin was first employed as MEP Seán Kelly’s policy adviser from 2015 to 2020.
After a brief stint as a special adviser at the Department of Agriculture, he was appointed in 2021 as head of policy at Wind Energy Ireland (WEI) – a lobbying group for the wind energy industry.
In March 2024, Goodwin left WEI to return to his role as Kelly’s policy adviser in the European Parliament.
Just months later, in May 2024, Goodwin’s former employer lobbied Kelly – who was seeking reelection to the European Parliament the next month – and asked him to support proposals set out in the Wind Energy Ireland European election manifesto.
The manifesto included calls to “reform Europe’s planning laws to accelerate delivery of wind energy” and increased financial support for the industry from the European Investment Bank.
Later that year, in November 2024, Kelly and Goodwin hosted an event at the EU Parliament in Brussels called “T-shore European Event 2024: Building Europe’s Offshore Wind Workforce”.
A small consortium of industry representatives, including WEI, runs the T-shore project.
“The event was moderated by Dáire Horgan, Wind Energy Ireland, and hosted by Seán Kelly MEP and Niall Goodwin,” according to the event’s promotional material.
Key themes from the event included “strategies to address the challenges of scaling up the offshore wind workforce”.
It wasn’t the first time that Kelly hosted events promoting the wind energy industry.
He hosted an event in March 2022 whose three speakers included WEI CEO Noel Cunniffe.
Kelly, in February this year, called on minister Darragh O’Brien “to make the delivery of Ireland’s phase one offshore wind projects a critical priority for his department”.
In a June 2025 contribution in the European Parliament, Kelly spoke about the need to “unlock the offshore wind potential of the Atlantic and northern seas”.
Kelly sits on the European Parliament’s committee on industry, research and energy. In February 2025 he submitted a declaration that he was not aware of any conflicts of interest that affected this role.
Kelly said, “Part of my work as an MEP on the parliament’s committee on industry, research and energy is to engage with a broad range of relevant energy stakeholders and I regularly facilitate discussion events in the European Parliament. Given the particular relevance to my work, I was pleased to have the opportunity to facilitate and host a public event in November showcasing the results of EU-funded research projects on offshore wind energy.”
Goodwin declined to comment.
