Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the three delegations. I come from County Laois, in the constituency of Laoighis-Offaly, and many wind turbines are planned for the area, and some have already been erected. It is a major issue. There is an underlying concern because for a number of years we went mad building houses and apartments, and we were going to generate wealth selling property to each other at inflated prices. We know how that ended. There is a concern, touched on today, about energy on a global scale, particularly energy trends. I am a passionate supporter of renewable energy but there are some alarm bells in my head when it comes to the wind energy sector.

I will direct my questions first to the Element Power representatives. Are we throwing all our eggs in one basket? It seems to be a questionable means of generating power as it is intermittent and must be backed up by gas or fossil fuel when there is no wind. We twice had a big freeze in the winter period two and three years ago but there was very little wind at a time when we depended much on electrical power.

There has been much discussion of how we are meeting our renewable energy targets and reducing greenhouse gases. This committee has put in much work on a related report, and nobody wants to see the goals realised more than I do. People in the midlands believe nothing is being achieved to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with the wind turbines because the cable is to be run to an interconnector and we are to help the Brits meet their goals. This will not help us meet our targets but England and Wales in particular will be helped in meeting theirs. Will the Element Power representatives address that?

The structure height is to be 185 m and I do not have a problem with modest wind farms properly located as part of meeting our renewable energy targets. The size of what is proposed is absolutely enormous on a flat landscape and the project will be seen from Portarlington to Mount Bolus. The structures will be huge. What does Element Power consider to be a reasonable set-back distance? My questions relate to whether we are putting all our eggs in one basket and if we are making the same mistakes as we did with the property boom. There is also the question of how this will help us meet our renewable energy needs and what is a reasonable set-back distance. If Mr. Cowhig lived in a rural area, how close would he allow a 185 m high turbine to be?

I travelled a road the other night which I had not used for four or five months. It was dark and because it is a rural area, there is only so much that can be seen. The road is smashed into bits and there are large potholes in it. I contacted the neighbouring council and our council about the damage done to the road. When I arrived at the destination the person I met raised the subject and pleaded with me to do what I could. There have been hundreds of lorries carrying concrete trundling along the road for a number of months. I had not been on it for three months but I could see that it was smashed to bits. The representatives of Element Power have spoken about community gain but in the area to which I refer the road network has been completely smashed to pieces. Would Element Power support the idea of a substantial bond being lodged with local authorities, if it could be retrievable rather than an insurance bond that is too hard to reach?