Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill and I thank Deputy Stanley for tabling it. It is great to have an opportunity to discuss renewable energy in the Dáil in the first week since we returned from our summer recess. While the Fianna Fáil Party is opposed to certain elements of the Bill, it has some very positive elements. It is regrettable that once again it is left to the Opposition parties to raise one of the major issues facing our people and this country. The reason there is such anxiety, worry and fear in communities about renewable energy, in particular wind energy, is due to the manner in which the Government and the previous Government handled the debate.

A year into the previous Dáil term, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the then Government and the UK Government which would have enabled large-scale industrial wind farms to be erected in the midlands, with all the energy being exported to the UK. There was no local buy-in or local consultation. At the time, the then Government wanted to power ahead with this proposal, so much so the people in the midlands were only saved from the industrial wind farm by virtue of the fact the UK Government pulled out of the agreement.

For more than six years, since Pat Rabbitte was the Minister, we have listened to Ministers stating the publication of new wind energy guidelines would be done without much further delay and that they were only a matter of months away. Those months have turned into years. Despite the fact the previous Government carried out a wide-ranging consultation process, nothing has happened since.

In the previous Government, the Ministers, Deputy Kelly and Alex White, could not come to terms or agree on the best way forward. In this Government there also appears to be a difference of opinion between Ministers on the best way forward. This is something that needs to be addressed. My party published its own wind energy guidelines more than four years ago, and it is regrettable the Government has not progressed this further at this stage.

Only today, I met a representative of the motor industry who spoke about the need to try to encourage people away from the use of diesel cars to hybrid cars. In the case of one particular brand, 4% of new passenger vehicles sold in 2015 were hybrid. In 2016, this had increased to 12% of passenger vehicles sold, and if we look thus far in 2017, 28% of all new passenger vehicles sold are hybrid. The general population realises fossil fuels are not never-ending and we need to look to a new way of ensuring we have sustainable energy to power our homes, businesses and cars. However, the Government is not responding.

A number of years ago, I went with my party leader to Denmark, which is possibly a world leader in how it has embraced renewable energy, particularly in how it has embraced wind energy. It took its lead in the 1970s when there was an oil crisis. At that stage it stated it would not be dependent on a resource over which it had no control. It started to diversify away from fossil fuels to wind energy. Now, more than 30% of its overall energy is from wind. A large proportion of this is wind on land. In latter years it has moved to offshore wind energy. As someone who was very much a vocal opponent of wind energy a number of years ago, I visited a number of wind farms, and they can work in the right locations. With the advance of technology, we can address the issues of noise and shadow flicker and the concerns of the people. However, the only way they can be addressed is to consult people, listen to their concerns and show them where international best practice works.

Unfortunately, there are people in our country who will say they want wind turbines but not in their own location. This is a fact. There are also people who will use and exploit people's fears for their own political gain. This is a fact. As national politicians and legislators who want to ensure we can make a lasting difference on the future, we need to ensure people are informed of the facts and that we have proper legislation and proper guidelines in place to ensure people's lives are not severely and negatively impacted. The Government has failed to do this.

There is plenty in the Bill that is very positive but there are elements of the Bill about which we have concerns. One of these elements is that the Bill states all locations for proposed wind turbines must be designated in county development plans and be consistent with the plan. This is all very well in certain parts of a county. I do not know what part of Laois Deputy Stanley lives in, but where I live in Westmeath is two miles from the Longford border. There are people who live much closer to various county borders. A plan adopted in one county might not necessarily be the same plan adopted in the county beside it. It might be at total variance to that of the county beside it. A person living near a county border might be more adversely affected by the plan adopted in the county across the border than the plan of the person's own county. It is important we have a national policy on this. Each county should not work in a silo or in isolation. We need a national policy, which is why I urge the Government to be upfront and straight, tell the people what it is doing and listen to the suggestions that have been made.

Something that made a huge difference to engaging with officials in Denmark, where we visited a number of years ago, was that people had local buy-in. The reason they had local buy-in was they had a tangible benefit from the renewable energy. I am not speaking about a multinational company coming in and giving €10,000 to sponsor sports jerseys. While this would be very welcome by a local GAA club and it would do good work in the community, what was done in Denmark was a co-operative style system was put in place and the local people benefited from cheaper electricity. This is not what was proposed originally by the previous Government, which was to export the energy across the water, with no tangible benefits for the people who would have to see the turbines being erected on their land.

We need to set a required distance from any residence.

We need strict noise controls and to restrict shadow flicker but I believe wind farms have a role play in the right locations, including inland. More important, we should be considering the role of offshore wind energy generation.

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