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

I welcome the witnesses and thank them for their contributions. I concur with them and applaud them again for formulating well-argued and reasoned proposals to deal with an undoubted injustice. We all hope we can contribute to a resolution of this continuing situation, which effectively is a means of sterilisation without compensation. While we all must take cognisance of environmental concerns and ensure the protection of species that are declining, vulnerable or under threat, it is invidious that the load is unfairly borne by one section without being appropriately considered in a balanced way. In respect of the EU principles, one cannot be compensated for a future or potential development that would require having planning permission. That is the legal situation. I am not very fond of wind turbines and have made my arguments very strongly about them. The witnesses might be surprised at how many people see them as a development that could cause a lot of problems when the public gets in on it. I would not be putting all my eggs into that basket if I were them. It is one of the weaknesses of their case. If they were living in the midlands, they would know that horse will not run, or would run in a very restricted fashion.

Taking into account the EU proportionality principle, legitimate expectations and the well-known principle of appropriate and adequate compensation which has existed since O’Callaghan v. Commissioner of Public Works and ESB v. Gormley and other cases, this is important in the context of the effective sterilisation of land and the impact of this loss on farmers' financial security. Anything that is an impediment devalues the land but that devaluation has consequences for the land as a secured asset, beyond normal sale or resale.

Several things can be done in respect of the schemes and we have to explore them all and try to get top-ups to deal with the situation. One of the alternatives in terms of treatment of gains pursuant to the taxation schedules and in the form of tax credits is an interesting proposal and should not be dismissed out of hand. That would require specific legislation dealing with a cohort of people which can sometimes be difficult to implement. It is like bringing something new onto a farm or bringing something onto a farm for the first time. It might look well in Grange and Moorepark but when it is brought down to the farm, it might not be as simple to apply. That is an area that could be examined because a balance could be achieved in respect of income forgone and compensation by that mechanism. It behoves us all to try to resolve this. I applaud the witnesses for the way they have set about it because it causes great angst for those impacted on. The witnesses have behaved in a very reasoned and reasonable way and many other lobby groups could consider the way they have advanced their case to us. I compliment them on the way they have set about it. We could all take a lesson from that.