Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A very delicate balance has to be struck. We want to see a shift and transition away from old fossil fuels and towards more renewable energy. The Government needs to speed up the issuing of new wind energy guidelines to all local authorities. We have had some absurd wind applications granted and other ones turned down. For example, in my county of Clare today we had the council determining - rightly so - that a 100 m high wind turbine in the middle of the village of Parteen was wrong and improper planning. It is to be taken down by 8 April. That is right. It is in a residential area. Wind turbines need to be taken away from communities and put in more obscure areas, where the wind is stronger, and offshore is the way to go. The guidelines need to be updated quickly. We do not want to see Carrownagowan, Meelick, Cahermurphy and Parteen repeated time and time again. We need updated guidelines and an embracing of our best asset of all: those high-speed wild Atlantic winds off the coast of Clare. That is the type of wind energy we need. It is three times more efficient, with all the infrastructure there to take it already. I implore the Minister to drive this on in his Department and to make it part of the realisation of our movement away from fossil fuels.

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