Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Only in Donegal could it happen. This is a company advertising solar panels for households claiming that it even works in the dark. Maybe it does, but I would love to see it actually happening.

Wind energy is not about renewable energy in this country; wind energy is only about making money for investors. The imposition of wind farms on communities around the country is completely unacceptable. That is why there is such a backlash against wind energy, particularly in Donegal where we have seen the development of 110 kV lines in order to get the wind energy out of the county, but we do not see benefits for communities. I wonder how many community-owned wind energy projects there are in the country. I would say there are very few; they could probably be counted on one hand. That is because it is all geared towards making wealthy people wealthier and ensuring they can make money out of it as long as we continue to subsidise it. If we are going to subsidise renewable energy, we should subsidise it for communities and for the benefit of people and citizens, rather than for the benefit of multinationals and investment groups.

However, this Bill is about fracking and I welcome it. When it passes I hope it will see an end to fracking in the country. However, the country has much more to do in preparing. We need a real strategy for moving away from fossil fuels into the future. That is the only option we have and we need to come to terms with that. We need to start working actively towards that. We can transition away from it, but we need to embrace that move. The Government needs to take it seriously and ensure it implements policies that move us in that direction.

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