Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I stress that, whatever the project, be it a wind energy project or any development, it is critically important and there is a need for the proposers of a project to engage in a meaningful way. There is an obligation to do so under the public participation directive in the Aarhaus Convention. It is important to stress that it is no longer good enough just to drop leaflets in letterboxes. It is important to engage through public meetings and public events at the preplanning stage. Certainly, to my understanding, the new guidelines will reference that, as do the existing guidelines. In developing the new guidelines, we have a challenge with the noise aspect issue, which is technical in nature, and it is important to get that right. We have existing guidelines in place which include elements around public participation, as do county development plans. It is important there is meaningful engagement and that it is not tokenistic and not box-ticking consultation.

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