Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am mindful, as we discuss climate action, that in the past few days there have been terrible winds and rain, a tropical-type storm in counties Mayo, Sligo and Donegal, with bad flooding and road closures and people being discommoded. Crossmolina is under threat of flooding and facing into another weather warning. It underlines the importance of adaptation works, the work the OPW is undertaking under the catchment flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, programme and the work it undertook before it. Crossmolina was listed in advance of the CFRAM programme and that body of work, but, unfortunately, it has still been flooded twice in the recent past. Some people have no insurance cover.

Many of the flooded areas in County Mayo are not areas where new development has taken place. They are in the old parts of towns built on rivers, as Mr. McCarthy said. The surges from rivers are different, as are the weather conditions. The communications from people lliving in them are stark. I hope people have not been flooded, but we are fearful of what will happen over the weekend.

Some minor work schemes have been approved by the OPW in Crossmolina, as in other areas, until the major flood defences are built. I hope they will provide protection up to a certain height.

I have a few points to make and questions to ask. We are facing the prospect of not achieving our 2020 targets. It is fair to say that in 2009 when we signed up to our renewable energy directive commitments, nobody thought we were being overly ambitious in the areas of electricity generation and renewable energy. Ireland has the best onshore and offshore wind energy resources. We have an abundance of renewable resources, including wave energy. For us to move forward there is a need for an exposé, perhaps by somebody like Mr. McCarthy. He has been less involved on the climate action side of things in the past two years, but up until this point, it has fallen within the remit of his Department. Why have we not achieved the targets set? We have better resources than other European countries, but we have not achieved the targets set.

Will the witnesses comment on our planning process, delays in planning and lack of guidance? How can it take so long for a review of the 2006 wind farm guidelines? What are we learning from this?

Planning for electricity has been a problem. I agree with Deputy Pringle about the issue of agreeing a marine spatial plan and looking at our marine resource in a sustainable way and as part of the solution for our renewable energy needs. People like Mr. McCarthy, under whose stewardship this was happening, need to answer the question. Many people point fingers at Government, saying it is not hitting targets. Not much drilling down is being done into different moving parts and community acceptance. The witnesses did not have the review of wind energy guidelines. It was promised to many people and many people have objected. I would also like to know how many energy projects have been refused.

I would like to tie into that, when Mr. McCarthy is addressing the planning system, the Apple project in Athenry, which included a proposed wind farm. I understand there are questions on environmental concerns which were to be referred to the European Court of Justice. I do not know if they are technicalities. I have asked for more information on it.

Every time we try to develop in this country, there seem to be problems with environmental designation. I have talked about this in different contexts relating to the building of infrastructure, special areas of conservation, SACs, habitats, birds and so on. Derrybrien wind farm was built on a bog. I presume it was an SAC. It is said that proper environmental studies were not done but when one is building a wind farm in a remote area where it is not interfering with people, it would seem it cannot be built on an SAC. Will the witnesses give some analysis of where it has all gone wrong when, on the face of it, we should be head of the class, especially with renewable electricity?

I welcome the energy retrofits that have taken place in local authority housing stock. Mr. McCarthy referred to more than 64,000 houses in his presentation. How much has that cost? What building energy rating, BER, has that brought those houses to? What BER had they previously? Mr. McCarthy mentioned 20,000 or 30,000. Is that for deep retrofitting?