Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I strongly support the development of green, sustainable, environmentally friendly energy. I support the development of onshore and offshore wind energy when it is done in partnership with communities. Climate change is a reality. It is, and will continue to be, one of the most serious challenges faced by Ireland and the international community in the coming decades. Climate change is causing thousands of deaths throughout the world, putting millions of people into poverty and forcing hundred of thousands of people to migrate. It is the global threat. It affects Ireland too and will continue to do so unless there is radical change in energy utilisation patterns.

On a clement day such as today it is easy to forget that only a few months ago this country was gripped by a number of once-in-100-years storms in the space of a few months. Climate change deniers are the flat-earthers of this generation. The debate on the science has moved on; it is time to focus on solutions. Fossil fuel must be rooted out of energy consumption. The true cost of fossil fuel for the environment is not factored into the price of oil and coal. The true cost of fossil fuel includes the damage climate change does. It is happening all over the world. This Government is reckless in its laggard efforts to reduce the use of fossil fuels.

Sinn Féin's recent jobs plan detailed a number of ways we could kick-start the economy, create jobs and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. We could take a number of important steps, the first of which relates to energy conservation. Our plan indicates how we could incentivise the private pension industry to invest €3 billion and put up €2 billion from the National Pensions Reserve Fund to create a green fund. According to the Institute of International and European Affairs, IIEA, the retrofitting of 500,000 houses with insulation would create energy savings of €748 million per year when the houses were complete. Over the period of ten years consumers could pay their bills as normal and the excess savings portion would be paid back to the green fund. At the end of ten years energy bills could be reduced dramatically, homes would be warmer and reliance on fossil fuels would reduce, as would carbon dioxide emissions.

Our jobs plan also discussed the sequencing of investment in water infrastructure beginning with counties leading the unaccounted for water tables as provided by the local government services. Ireland spends €700 million, not including capital investment, each year to produce drinking water, yet 43% of this leaks from the system. Although it takes large amounts of energy to process this water in the first place, the Government stands over a system that leaks nearly half of it out. We also indicated methods whereby we could reduce the lead time for the necessary offshore wind projects.

We would mandate the ESB to develop an extra 300 MW of offshore wind energy in five years. We also discuss the possibility of the construction of a full-scale open ocean test facility at Belmullet to move forward the development of wave energy. These are costed and we have identified the source of funds to pay for them. As a party we are committed to the development of renewable energy but we also see it as important not to put all our eggs in one basket. Our energy must come from diverse sources, including offshore tidal, hydroelectric, biomass and geothermal energy.

Sinn Féin is serious about climate change and we have put up the detailed policy proposals to prove that. Crucially, we believe the strategies must not be imposed on local communities but rather implemented in partnership with those communities, especially when considering some of the radical plans that the Government has on offer. This is a significant point. Given the industrial size of the proposed wind turbines and the massive impact they will have on communities, along with the cack-handed manner in which this Government has handled the process until now, it seems that any goodwill towards sustainable energy in the country has been frittered away. The possibility of even developing reasonable sustainable energy projects in this country is now far more remote, given the level of opposition created by the mess in which the Government has been involved.

We are talking about turbines which are 600 ft. high through the entirety of the midlands, including my own county. They are without comparison in Ireland and Britain, located on farmland within 1 km of family homes. There will be noise, flicker and a reduction in property values, including the value of homes. Sales of homes in some areas, including my own county, have stopped because people are waiting to see if these plans go ahead. People have been left in limbo in that regard. Last year I was contacted by people from Ballinabrackey, Castlejordan, Ballivor, Raharney, Killucan, Delvin, Carlanstown and Loganstown about these proposed industrial-size turbines. There are decent people with no ideological opposition to green energy who have become massively frustrated by the fact that they were not being listened to by the Government.

There is another significant issue concerning community acceptance of green energy models which the Government must consider. This is the ownership model mentioned by my colleague Deputy Ferris. Under the Government's proposals, large multinational investment companies would fund industrial-scale wind farms in rural landscapes and export that energy, leaving little behind except split communities and bad feeling. That can be contrasted with the community-based model being developed in Germany and Denmark. Much of the renewable energy production there is planned and owned by the local communities, and it is built around the needs of local communities, with size, shape and set-back to the design of local communities. Both energy and profit is returned to local communities, so this is the model that the Government needs to promote. However, that would mean empowering local communities, and the Government hardly has a track record in that area.

This Bill attempts to impose proper regulation on all aspects of wind turbine construction, including proper zoning of areas for wind turbine development, duties of planning authorities, set-back distance and responsibility for decommissioning of wind turbines. The Bill seeks to impose a set-back distance ten times the height of a turbine from the dwelling where turbines are higher than 25 m. There must also be clarity around land access and use for the farming community.

There is also an uncomfortable phenomenon which I should indicate to the Minister of State. It is evident in my county and I am not sure if other Teachtaí Dála have seen it recently, as it harks back to the close relationship that once existed between Fianna Fáil, property developers and banks in the last Administration. A number of Fine Gael members and some elected representatives have formed a very close relationship in my own county with the multinational firms which seek to erect these industrial-sized wind turbines. For example, some groups representing the communities have alleged that a Fine Gael councillor has used his office to frustrate the efforts of the local community in making representations. Shockingly, community concerns have been completely ignored by Fine Gael on the ground and by this Government today. It is unbelievable that the only saving grace for these communities is a possible disagreement between the Tories and the Liberal Democrats in Britain regarding the development of energy sources.

I ask the Government to think long, hard and very seriously about local communities and what it is like to live on farmland - where previous generations have lived - only to see the landscape altered radically with a turbine 600 ft. high placed within 1 km of one's home. It is a shocking position for any family. These people may also have to deal with possible sound effects, including lower frequency sounds that may not necessarily be heard during the day but that people may feel going through their bodies at night. There is also the issue of flicker and difficulties in selling homes. We know there are approximately 150,000 people in the country in mortgage distress, with many trapped in homes by negative equity and an inability to pay down mortgages. We should consider how many other people will be trapped in homes if they have no chance of selling their houses. Much research has been carried out in the midland counties, including my county of Meath, which indicates that people seeking to purchase a house will not do so if the property is next to a turbine. Would the Minister of State seek to purchase a house within 1 km of a turbine that is 600 ft. high?

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