Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There is a widespread belief in the public that we need radical democratic reform, which was promised by the Government. I will repeat the question I asked earlier of how the Government can tally a commitment to radical democratic reform of these Houses and democracy in the country with the imposition of a guillotine on the Bill dealing with the abolition of the Seanad, which is being debated this week. It will be guillotined and pushed through in just one week while we need a wide-ranging and thorough debate on democratic reform in the country. Will the Minister explain this?

We are all aware of the need in this country to shift to renewable energies very quickly for environmental and other reasons. The Minister may have noted significant coverage of the issue of applications for big wind energy projects. Given the questions on the environmental aspects, the economic benefit to the State, the efficiency of wind energy and the many other concerns of people, when will the foreshore and marine area development Bill be brought forward? When will the promised offshore renewable energy development plan be published? The Minister knows that there are several very controversial and large wind energy projects, not least the plan for 145 turbines in Dublin Bay. We need to know the legislative framework in which these applications will be assessed with the participation of the public.

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