Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Recently in County Donegal, residents in Glenties, Doochary and Lettermacaward were blanketed with a leaflet drop announcing a new wind farm application in Cloghercor. This is in addition to a new application in the geographically adjacent Graffy area, a broadly similar landscape. The proposed Cloghercor project runs from Cleengort and Derkmore Lough in the south through to Shallogans and Doochary parallel to the Gweebarra river estuary.

This 7 km stretch of land is mainly peat bog, much of it with significant slopes. It is an environmentally sensitive landscape. The application will be by way of the heavily flawed strategic infrastructure development process. The process is similar to the strategic housing development process for large housing projects, which for all intents and purposes appears to serve only to exclude proper public consultation. As a consequence of this, An Bord Pleanála has seen 90% of its grants overturned on judicial review.

The response to this from the Government has been to propose pricing communities out of the process in direct contravention of the principles of the Aarhus Convention, which is strange as its legislative programme commits to strengthening access to justice through the Aarhus Convention Bill, although I am not surprised that the Government has taken the Trumpian "if we stop testing right now, we'd have very few cases" approach to problem solving, as this Administration and previous ones have serious form in this area.

Governments of inaction have failed, and continue to fail, our citizens on so many fronts. I stood in front of the Taoiseach on 18 November and he told me he was anxious to progress a comprehensive review of the wind energy guidelines. Nothing has happened. The following day, I raised the Meenbog landslide as a Topical Issue with the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan. As yet, nothing of consequence has emerged from the litany of investigations by an alphabet soup of organisations, which he outlined that day were to happen. Again, during Questions on Promised Legislation in January, I raised with the Taoiseach the focused review of wind energy guidelines, which has been ongoing since December 2013, and the Mulcahy report into planning irregularities in Donegal, which has sat unpublished on the desks of eight different Ministers. The Minister's boss told me he would follow up these issues and that he would speak to the Minister about them. I have heard nothing since.

Derrybrien has been ongoing since 2003 with total Government inaction. Today, the cost of this inaction stands at more than €13.9 million. There is no plan and no action, only dither and spiralling costs. The present mealy-mouthed approach that masquerades as participation does not work because the provision of information is not participative, and neither are attempts to limit access to the courts. Will the Minister outline for me what actions the Government intends to take to ensure communities throughout the country can be properly involved in and consulted on significant development projects in their areas?

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