Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the representatives of Coillte for their presentation. No doubt the Coillte land will play an important role in land utilisation in the future.

I will focus upon it as somebody who has been involved in this and has not been aggressive, but has argued logically against the invasion of people's space by corporate entities, which I hope is not done in collusion with Coillte. I note Coillte has nine projects over seven counties in order to contribute to the 500 MW portfolio of renewable energy. Everything is grand, except when things are imposed upon communities with no community dividend or benefit.

More particularly, we all are aware of the additional guidelines, and that there are planning guidelines, and there are reviews of all of those taking place. That is grand to a point. Previously, the wind turbines that Coillte was looking at were approximately 54 m in height. Now they are stretching up to 180 m or 185 m, which is 600 ft., and these are to be 500 m from a home. There is fear about the impact and the diminution of value. All of this happens without any strategic environmental assessment and disregarding the Aarhus Convention. They just walk in as corporate bullies. I want to ensure that Coillte will not be part of this corporate bullying that occurs. It is corporate bullying. Many of my colleagues will not understand that, but when one lives in one of the five counties of the midlands, one will see it at play. There is sneakiness, with deals being signed overnight and behind people's backs, and neighbours being taken out of the system. There is family against family. This is what has resulted. Nobody seems to appreciate it. I have made the Minister acutely aware of this.

The important point is this. Coillte has lands way out in rural areas, well away from communities, where there is no problem. Bord na Móna has also. It is all right provided they comply with the planning standards that are brought in, but one must have respect for everything, including the habitats, the SPAs, the SACs, the NHAs, etc. An ordinary farmer must have respect for these, and I hope the corporations that are involved with wind energy have it too. Obviously, they can utilise the land for those projects and give way-leaves. How many of these have taken place to date? Have there been many of them in the midlands? That is important.

Is Coillte aware that we may not have any energy for export? Let us look after ourselves first. Coillte will be aware of what is happening in Britain. I hope it is not devising schemes in isolation. We all will be aware that in Britain they are moving to a different way. They are now looking again at nuclear energy. Surely, as a semi-state company, with the shareholder being the State in the person of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Coillte will be aware of the importance of this situation in a context in which the British Government will not allow its rural landscape to be devastated and destroyed. The UK Minister for Energy and Climate Change, Mr. Davey, MP, has had to change course. The UK Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron, MP, has changed course. They are now looking at fracking and nuclear power. They now have all the other options. That is why this intergovernmental agreement has not taken place, and with God's help it will not take place. Let us look after what we have at home.

Wind energy is 25% to 30% efficient. When there is plenty of wind one gets nothing, and it needs a carbon-based, or fossil-fuel-based back-up to ensure continuity of supply. Is it as big as all this great profession of achievement that is being laid out for it? If it was not subsidised, would it be on the park at all? These are questions that I hope Coillte is examining and I hope it is taking cognisance of the wider community view. Otherwise, it is heading for trouble.

Deputy Barry is correct; we are there at meetings. Now I have a view. I do not believe in this wind energy concept. It was brought in in 2009 under the national renewable energy action plan. There was no strategic environment assessment. There was nothing on it. It was merely foisted on us by then Minister, Mr. Ryan, and those people. There is no use in Coillte heading down into the logjam. For example, in one county 6,000 residents took out their pens and wrote to Westmeath County Council objecting to it. That is considerable. In any county development plan, most here who were councillors will be aware that there would not be 20 submissions. In this case there were 6,000. They reflected the community view.

Coillte has a lot of land in Westmeath. I am aware of it because my late uncle worked in the company. It is right beside me. I do not have any difficulty as long as Coillte works with Bord na Móna - which, I note, has a role - and as long as it complies with the various standards. However, I want Coillte to know that this is not a done deal. There is a lot of work to be done with Coillte and all the others, and I do not anticipate that there will be any more chance of going around and imposing projects on people. They will have to bring the people with them and show the benefits. They should show that there is a community dividend in it at the end of the day and it is not all for corporations to make plenty of money and then sell off in a couple of years' time and leave us carrying the baby. We are already recovering from unfinished estates. We will have another type of ghost estate, consisting of lands blighted with turbines, across the country - including, if Coillte is not careful, some of its land. Who will pay the dividend then?