Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In the section of the programme for Government on updating the planning guidelines on renewable energy, it refers to the awareness of Government of the distress and the divisions in communities where wind farms are imposed against the will of the people. It pledged to update the guidelines within three to six months but we are ten months on from its publication and wind farms are being foisted on communities, with plans for more. There is more stress and division than ever in those communities and they are asking when the Government will get off its hands and publish the guidelines as promised ten months ago. In my own community in the Finn valley in Donegal, those concerned have already mobilised against and defeated a wind farm application which would have imposed a major wind farm very close to residential premises. Now, a second wave of applications is coming in for the same type of proposal and residents are looking to Government to protect individuals. Nobody is against renewable energy, development or infrastructure but we are against these farms being imposed on a community against its will in very close proximity to individuals where there are ample other opportunities to site them. Can the Taoiseach give clarity on this to the communities in the Finn valley and across the State, who are looking for the Government to fulfil the commitment it gave to them in the programme for Government ten months ago?

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