Mr. Stephen Wheeler:

That is a challenge. From the point of view of public acceptance, early inclusion is essential. It is important that companies undertake responsible development and act within the guidelines and within best practice. Deputy Mulherin referred to community gain, which is hugely important. At SSE Airtricity we believe that we have led in regard to community gain by way of our community fund whereby a fund is put in place at the start of the operation of the wind farm which benefits the people in the locality. This can be anything from energy efficiency to university bursaries. It makes a difference to local communities and that is a very important element in bringing forward renewable energy. Ultimately, if we do not continue with onshore wind, we will not hit our 2020 targets.

There is a cost to renewables and in Ireland renewables are supported through the refit mechanism. This mechanism is very cost-competitive when compared with Europe. It is not over-expensive relative to the EU average. A comparison of refit 1 versus refit 2 shows the benefits with a reduction in the level of support provided for wind farms. Ultimately, the aim is to get to a point where technology does not require support, but we still have some way to go in that regard.