Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is no need for any member of Sinn Féin to reiterate that this party and the broader republican movement stand for ownership and control of our natural resources by the people of Ireland. We support the use of renewable energy. Clearly, there is great potential for the use of wind energy on this small island, with the broad Atlantic stretching out from our western seaboard. It is a massive resource and we should make best use of it for the benefit of the people.

People all over the State are struggling with their utility bills and a responsible Government should be trying to relieve that burden. It is a basic human right that people should be able to heat their homes, have hot water, adequate light and meet basic energy needs without financial strain. The Government seems to think every aspect of human existence should be a source of profit for some private company. It has set about dismantling any vestige of a welfare state and I would go so far as to say any trace of humanity in its dealings with vulnerable people. It is charging for water, charging tolls on the roads, taxing our homes, imposing septic tank charges and privatising anything it can manage to privatise at full speed.

This is combined with the sale, at knockdown prices, of our natural resources. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, signed an agreement with the British Government to export wind energy produced in Ireland to Britain. This was happening, despite the fact that the State was so dependent on expensive fossil fuels. The agreement with the British is said to have collapsed, but I wonder whether, after the forthcoming elections, we will see it being resurrected. This venture, like many of the others proposed and, unfortunately, implemented, in some cases, by the Government, has unhappy consequences owing to the lack of regulation and forethought. This area is badly in need of regulation, which is why Sinn Féin has introduced the Bill.

So far, there is unbridled activity by private energy companies looking to erect wind turbines around the country. The midlands, in particular, has been targeted for industrial turbines which are bigger and more intrusive than the turbines we are becoming used to seeing dotted all over the State. Not far from where the Minister of State lives, in my county, in the Ballyhorgan-Lixnaw area, there is a proposal going through the planning process to erect ten turbines. These turbines will be 510 ft high and in a valley between the Kilduff side of the mountain and back towards Kerry Head. The irony is that at public meetings other elected representatives and I attended some backbench Deputies and councillors from the Labour Party and other parties agreed with what Sinn Féin was stating. Therefore, if democracy is to prevail, the Labour Party, the Government and all backbenchers should agree with the Bill.

The companies I have mentioned have sent their representatives, like carpetbaggers, around the midlands and other areas, with wads of cash in their pockets and contracts drawn up. In times of economic hardship the lure of hard cash and the promise of more to come made many in rural communities prey to this hard sell. Many of them now realise the full implications of the small print of the contracts they signed with companies, about which they still know very little, for the erection of turbines on their land. The way this has been done has also damaged the harmony of many communities. Families who have farmed side by side for generations are now at loggerheads over the erection of turbines. This is often the way when new infrastructure is proposed and there are new innovations. Sometimes people must be disturbed from their homes or land for the common good, but it is another story altogether when this is happening only to create profit for a private company and provide renewable energy for neighbouring countries. That is the sad part of it. If it was for our own people, we could say it was for the common good, but when it is for export by private companies, it flies in the face of the common good.

It turns out that for some there are implications which they did not foresee regarding the use of land and their ability to sell it on or leave it to others unhindered by the contract. There are some who signed with one entity and now find that their interest has been sold on to others. The whole process has continued unhindered by proper, responsible regulation by the Government. Others have signed contracts and now find they must get permission from the company to apply for planning permission to build houses for their sons or daughters on their own land. This permission is often refused.

These companies are calling the shots and setting the agenda for the development of what should be a major State project, which should be designed for the benefit of the Irish people. The harnessing of our wind energy should not be another asset to be sold off to the highest bidder so the banks can be paid off while ordinary citizen gets no use at all from it. Any major development of industrial wind turbines should take place only after consultation with the local community and with community agreement. It is not good enough that a company can throw in a sweetener in the form of some contribution to local facilities and expect the local people to accept the turbines when there is no proper, legally-binding obligation on the companies to look after them in the future.

When these companies, inevitably, pull out, who will be responsible for decommissioning the giant turbines? Will they be left rusting on our hillsides, an eyesore for future generations to deal with due to lack of foresight in this generation? In my area of interest, agriculture, there are concerns. There is no need to spell out the importance of agribusiness to this country and our economy. Many who are involved in livestock are concerned. Horse breeders have specifically expressed their misgivings about this willy-nilly development of wind farms. The thoroughbred industry in Ireland involves nearly 8,000 breeders and employs 14,000 people. We cannot take the concerns they have expressed about turbines lightly.

The industry has called for the kind of regulation the Sinn Féin Bill sets out. Set back distances not only from dwelling houses but also from stable yards must be established. The industry has also called for a proper cost-benefit analysis for alternatives including offshore wind farms, and this makes sense. My party colleague mentioned the opportunity to invest in wave, tidal and solar energy and to put wind turbines offshore. That is how we should approach it, to minimise any disharmony it creates within communities and to ensure the benefits will be for the people of Ireland and not for private profiteers.

We cannot plan our energy strategy in the best interests of the Irish people if we allow private energy companies to rush ahead with schemes over which the Government has no control. While local planning regulation might be effective on a case-by-case basis, this is no way to deal with such a major, national issue. Renewable energy is a necessity, but must not be regarded as a product, a consumable to be produced for profit only. We must harness it for the benefit of people and meet our renewable energy targets. It should not be a priority to allow other countries to fulfil their renewable energy targets by imposing huge, industrial wind farms on the people of the midlands and other parts of the country when none of the energy to be generated will go into our national grid. This area must be carefully regulated and an intelligent, sustainable energy strategy must be formulated which will be in our national interest now and for generations to come.

Over the years I have listened with great interest to policies proposed by the Minister's party and the former parties that are now part of the Labour Party, namely, Democratic Left, Sinn Féin the Workers' Party and the Workers' Party. I have listened with great interest to what the Minister, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, said down through the years about the nationalisation of our energy and other aspects of our society for the common good. However, when the Minister and the parties he belonged to through the years got power they reneged on everything they stood for regarding using our natural resources for the common good and the greater good of the Irish people. I was part of a committee that tried to produce a report on our national resources, offshore energy etc. and I dug out what the Minister said at that time. It was brilliant, revolutionary stuff. He talked about the future, Ireland becoming self-sufficient and using the natural resources for the greater good and the common good of the people. Unfortunately, he has left all that behind. He and his party colleagues, some of whom came all the way from Official Sinn Féin to the Labour Party, have lost their way because they have been sucked in by the system and policies of future governments against which they had vehemently argued through the years.

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