Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Wind Turbine Regulation Bill 2014. When preparing my notes to speak on the Bill, I watched the news. Today is an historic day. It is the first official State visit by an Irish President to the UK. It is the first official visit by an Irish President to meet the Queen of England. It is the first official address by an Irish President to a joint sitting of the House of Commons and House of Lords. It is an historic day and a sign of the maturing relationship between Ireland and our nearest neighbour. Everybody on all sides of the island and on both islands appreciates the significance of it. Then we see the topic under discussion during Private Members' business, which is legislation from Sinn Féin to ban the exportation of Irish wind energy to the United Kingdom. I ask Members to think about that. Everyone agrees that this is an historic day, but Sinn Féin, being what it is, does not fully agree with what is going on. Its members are here to prevent normalisation of trade between Ireland and the UK. I agree with Sinn Féin on aspects of wind energy, but introducing legislation designed specifically to prevent the export of electricity to the UK says a lot about the party.

We should also ask what other action Sinn Féin took today. The President of Ireland is addressing the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Is Sinn Féin present? Its Members are in this House and in the Northern Ireland Assembly and they draw their salaries and expenses here and in the North. While their members draw expenses from the House of Commons, will they be present to meet the President of Ireland? No, they will not, because there is still a deep-rooted hostility on the part of Sinn Féin to normal activity in regard to people in England. That must be put in context. I would not have a problem having a detailed debate on the merits of wind energy, exporting wind energy and the scale of wind energy projects. Admittedly, Martin McGuinness is attending the banquet this evening, but Sinn Féin refused to participate in events when the Queen visited this country a few years ago. I am pleased that Sinn Féin is beginning to mature, but it has quite a bit to go. It will always take a particular populist stance and colour it by wrapping the flag around it to say it is anti-British. That is fine, as that is the market for Sinn Féin, but most people in Ireland have moved on from that narrow view. Introducing legislation to ban trade with one country is a narrow view of how we should be progressing. That is the political backdrop to why we are here.

I welcome the legislation in that it has some good points. If the Bill moves to Committee Stage and Report Stage, Fianna Fáil will table substantial amendments based on its recently published policy. If that happens, we hope the Government and Opposition parties will accept our amendments. The planning guidelines in the area should be put on a statutory footing, which should be included in this legislation. There should be community ownership of wind farms, which should be included in this legislation. Wherever the wind farms are being sited, a local authority or another body should create the opportunity for gains and profits to be shared with the community. That body should be able to prevent the sale of the wind farms to a foreign investor, such as a pension fund in Tokyo or Ottawa, without community involvement at local level.

The legislation should be improved by having a stronger emphasis on offshore wind farms. We are an island nation and we get our wind from the oceans and the seas. That is where the Irish natural resource of wind is at its strongest. Fianna Fáil has set the most practical and correct distance for wind turbine set back from residential buildings. The Government proposes 500 m, but that is too short given that some wind turbines have tip heights of 186 m. Sinn Féin proposes ten times that, up to 2 km, but that means there will never be a wind farm on the island of Ireland.

There are adequate and suitable wind farms in proper locations around the country, away from residential properties and businesses. There is one quite near me under construction. One can see it from the main road but one has quite a distance to drive before one gets near it. There are no houses in the area and it is in the middle of a bog at the back of a forest. That is a good location. Sinn Féin policy would oppose all wind turbines on the basis that there should not be anything within 2 km of anything else. We have come forward with the proposal that the distance should be approximately six times the height, which would be approximately 1 km. Coincidentally, that is halfway between what the Government is proposing, which is unacceptable, and what Sinn Féin is proposing, which is essentially saying it does not want any wind turbines at all. We propose a proper sensible approach and we ask people to follow that. We have detailed proposals on noise and shadow flicker, which we ask to be incorporated in the Bill.

Another aspect of the Bill on which I welcome discussion relates to strategic infrastructure. The Bill proposes that not all applications should be referred immediately to An Bord Pleanála. One of the reasons for the debate is the excessive scale of the midlands project. It would denude the countryside and prevent the building of many houses in rural areas in the future due to the proposed building of wind turbines. Such a step would have a long-term effect and depopulate a rural area. For that reason we consider the project to be excessive, over the top and unviable. The two projects should not go ahead. The Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act should only be for Irish infrastructure; it should not be for private companies to use for their advantage for export-led projects.

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