Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The landslide in Donegal resulting from the construction of a wind farm was a shocking reminder of the Government's failure to take seriously what happens when the development of renewable energy is in the hands of private developers who only care about profit and do not give a hoot about the environment. It was not the first time we had seen that type of environmental damage resulting from the failure to conduct proper environmental impact assessments on such projects. This year, we were forced to pay €5 million in fines, with €15,000 per day in further penalties, as a result of the Derrybrien landslide in 2003 and the subsequent ruling of the European Court of Justice that the developers, namely, the ESB, which had built a wind farm on a mountain after cutting down the trees that held the mountain together, had ignored this basic knowledge about the role of forestation in holding mountains and soil together, thereby causing a massive landslide. We are paying €15,000 per day in penalties and have still not rectified the matter, and the same situation has occurred in Donegal. This is what happens when something as important as dealing with climate change and the development of renewable energy is put in the hands of private developers or people who are driven by profit. What will the Government do about this? Where are the directly employed ecologists, foresters and all the other people who will do the environmental impact assessment work for the State to ensure that this sort of disastrous situation does not recur?

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