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

It does not really clarify the issue. I am quite aware that we are still working under the 2006 wind energy guidelines. The problem is that people throughout this country are living in fear. New guidelines were promised as far back as 2011. In fact, it is safe to say that this is one of the issues I have raised most frequently in the Dáil since being elected. The previous Government signed a memorandum of understanding with the UK Government concerning the export of wind energy in 2012. Wind turbines of heights of 160 m or 170 m were to be erected in the midlands. That did not proceed, but it highlighted the need to change the 2006 wind energy guidelines, particularly as these were published at a time when turbines were 40 m or 50 m high.

The previous Government, including the then Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and former Deputy, Alex White, and the then Minister for the Environment, Community and local Government, Deputy , could not agree on new wind energy guidelines. Two years have passed, there is a different Government in place but we still have nothing concrete. Every time I raise this issue, whether by way of parliamentary question or on the Order of Business, I am informed that the new guidelines are said to be imminent and that the Government is working through the consultation period and examining submissions. We are still no further along, however. If an application was submitted in the morning, it would be judged on the basis of the 2006 guidelines.

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