John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The offshore renewable energy support scheme draft terms stipulate that all offshore wind farms developed under the scheme must have a community benefit fund associated with them. This is something I fully support. However, the Department has proposed that offshore community benefit funds be managed centrally on a national level through a combined single fund rather than locally on an individual project basis. This is very different from the approach being taken by the Department for onshore community benefit.

Two significant offshore wind projects are planned for development off the Wicklow coast in the coming years. The Codling wind park will be the largest in the State, with up to 140 turbines spread out over 125 sq. km. We also have the Arklow bank project that will see up to 62 turbines spread out over 67 sq. km. It is estimated that the community benefit fund between the Codling wind park and the Arklow bank project could be as much as €10 million year. If the Government proposals are put in place Wicklow would lose out considerably as, unlike the scheme for onshore projects, the funds will not be ring-fenced for communities in Wicklow. The community dividend from these developments belongs to Wicklow because Wicklow will be the county that will be most impacted by the development of these two substantial projects. The Government proposal contravenes the existing practice that covers onshore wind farms, which allows these funds to be administered locally on an individual project basis. The existing scheme for onshore community benefit allows for a third-party administrator to take responsibility for the administration of the community funds in accordance with the good practice principles handbook.

I made a submission to the consultation process, which concluded on Monday. I outlined my opposition to the proposed change to the current best practice that covers the administration of the community benefit fund accrued by local communities from local onshore wind farms. This could potentially result in a loss of millions of euro to Wicklow. Organisations and communities have bought into the two projects that are working their way through the process. It is a serious and significant matter and one that needs to be opposed and examined. I urge all Deputies in Wicklow, including Ministers, to have a look at this to ensure the communities will benefit from these two massive projects in Wicklow, which I fully support.

However, there needs to be a community dividend for that and it needs to be kept within Wicklow rather than managed centrally. I seriously urge the Minister and the Department to consider this issue to ensure Wicklow benefits fully from this community benefit fund in much the same way as onshore communities are benefitting from the projects in their parts of the world. There should not be discrimination in terms of how onshore and offshore projects are dealt with. Communities need to ensure they benefit from the roll-out of those projects.

See this speech in context