Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The negotiations are not with any developer. That is not the key consideration. It is with regard to agreement on sound standards and other distance parameters and standards, and looking to best international comparison on that, that there has been difficulty in getting final agreement within Departments. In the first auction system we introduced last year, we saw the first seven community energy projects getting approved. In the next auction system, we will also see a number of community projects and real support for community investment. This on its own is not enough. We need to have mechanisms which ensure that people, particularly those who live close to renewable energy systems - solar or wind - have the potential to gain, Their concerns must be listened to and heeded in An Bord Pleanála and lessons must be learned from Derrybrien and the bogslide last year in Donegal. The development of this industry has to be in tune with the protection of the environment and not hindering it. Those lessons will be learned and An Bord Pleanála will apply them.

See this speech in context