Ms Marie Donnelly:

I thank the Deputy and share his concern. It is fair to say that the structures that have been put in place in Ireland are logical and reasonable. There is the fact that we have investors coming, and many of them are Irish, and they must meet all the environmental criteria and receive planning. When they construct a wind farm, they must support the local community with a community benefit fund. On average, that amounts to €2 million going into the community over a period of 15 years, which is nice.

We do have to ask ourselves why, given all the provisions that are in place, the supports that are there and the popular support for climate action in the country, the communication messages have not succeeded in connecting in people's minds the idea that a wind farm will keep the lights on.

There has perhaps been a failure of communication in terms of translating the benefits of this particular infrastructure. I would go further than wind turbines and say the issue also applies to pylons. The reality is that this infrastructure needs to be rolled out in order for us to benefit from our own natural resources and be able to keep the lights on. We have failed to communicate that message. It is a failure on the part of all of us.