Ms Clare Watson:

Regarding community energy projects in the past, I am thinking of two in particular, one at Cape Clear and one on Bere Island, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They could not access funding, they could not access the electricity grid and they also had trouble with planning. They got no infrastructural or leadership support. There were others, later on, that tried to be community-oriented by accepting shares locally. Those involved will admit now, however, that they did not have the information on how to do it properly. There does seem to be a problem as well in that, even if there is an attempt to get community involvement, some people do not like wind generators. Much of the research will show that people have something called place attachment. People are very attached to the place where they live, to the view as it is now and maintaining that view in the future. Some big development coming in, or even a community development, threatens to wreck that. That is part of where long-term and in-depth engagement is needed. This cannot be rushed into, even as a community project.