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

I thank the Minister and his officials for coming to the meeting today. It is useful for them to be here. I live in Laois and the export project is a major issue there and across the constituency in Laoighis-Offaly, Westmeath and South Kildare. It would appear that there is disagreement between the two parties in the British Government on the direction of the export-led projects. The nuclear lobby, the fracking lobby and North Sea gas seem to prevail. The export project seems to be on hold, which we welcome.

We have several concerns. The county in which I live and the surrounding counties are being turned into giant wind farms to produce electricity for the British market. I have no problem with exporting anything. The more we can export, the better. However, we have been asked to accept something that the British public would not put up with in rural areas. There is serious concern about this because in order to capture wind energy in the midlands the turbines must be of a height the Minister and I have never before seen. They are absolutely enormous. The proposal is to locate them in areas not zoned under county development plans. The Minister is aware of some of the problems in respect of buying up land rights. We want all of this put on hold, regardless of what the British are doing. That they are holding it up is good news. The Irish Government should be holding it up and taking a second look at it.

There is not even a cost-benefit analysis for this project. Financiers now say that it is cheaper for the British and other governments to buy electricity produced by nuclear power and other sources. I want to see it produced from renewable sources. Will the Minister address the economics of this project? With respect, we have done it the wrong way around. The Government has been in power for only three years but we need a cost-benefit analysis before doing this. We should address our own energy needs because people in the midlands wonder why they should have a giant turbine almost in their back garden while they suffer from fuel poverty. The electricity bypasses them. They will not benefit from it and will not have the cheap energy from the wind farms. That is of great concern. The priority must be to serve the economic needs of this State and the needs of households and industry. I would like to see cheap energy for industry in the midlands, throughout the State and the island of Ireland.

I am puzzled about the planning of wind farms. Most of us here are former members of local authorities. There are significant regulations around housebuilding, rightly so, and there have been some improvements in that regard. Why build something that is many times bigger than any house, in the middle of the countryside, without regulations? There are no regulations governing its development in terms of the height, set back and shadow flicker. Guidelines are like an elastic band, they can be pulled in any direction, depending on who interprets them. The Government is bringing forward necessary major reform of local government and says it will empower communities and local public representatives. Laois County Council voted yesterday to ban turbines. That is a political statement. It has little effect in law. It is important because it shows the level of local anger and frustration that all parties in the council chamber yesterday banned wind farms. The areas that the councillors zoned are not even being taken into consideration; the wind farm companies are going off-site. Will the Minister address that point?

We are constantly told that wind offers the best financial return. There are question marks over that. We do not have a cost-benefit analysis for what is proposed in the midlands. We did not have wind energy when we needed it during the cold spells in the past two winters.

When electricity demand was at its highest, we did not have wind energy. Sinn Féin has huge concerns in regard to the fact we do not have an overall energy strategy. The position we are taking seems to be a bit like a re-run of the house building insanity and we seem to be putting all our eggs into one basket. I believe I understand that is not the Minister's wish, but I am concerned that is what is happening and that all of a sudden we are going to get 2,200 turbines in a relatively small area. We seem to be rushing headlong into this. What has happened with regard to hydro, wave and geothermal energy generation? What has happened in regard to biomass? No matter who I talk to in the industry, they tell me these are now pushed aside and are now on the back burner. This is my concern in regard to an overall energy policy. Have the Department and the Government given adequate consideration to whether we are putting all our eggs into one basket, perhaps to the detriment of a more rounded, sustainable energy policy, particularly in view of the fact that wind is intermittent?

I want to be clear. I support alternative energy. We must support it for the reasons the Minister has outlined. The UN report published yesterday has crystallised this issue for everyone. We must do this and we are on the one page on it. I ask the Minister to address the four issues I have raised.