Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I commend my Independent Group colleagues on bringing it forward. I would caution people about getting rid of fossil fuel as if we have all the alternatives in place. As the fella says, "bí cúramach" in what we are saying and doing. We need to make sure we have things right to take over from fossil fuels.

In that context, I have in my constituency a huge problem with wind farms that are being proposed. If all of the wind farms being proposed in my constituency happen against the will of the communities, we would have uproar. For some reason, we have three major wind farms being proposed. We have one that is surrounded by 249 houses, with residents and a national school all within close proximity. We have a national park in Knockma Hill, which is historic. We have biodiversity and all that goes with that. We have an aquifer system under the ground that is helping our flooding systems and supplying water to at least eight group water schemes. Yet, we have an investment company, as I would call it, putting in a proposal to erect 180 m high wind turbines, some of them within 400 m or 500 m of residents.

We have the same thing happening down in the Kilconly, Caherlustraun and Cloonnaglasha area. There are funny names on these, Shancloon and Laurclavagh, or something, and we do not know where they actually are. We have another one over in Clonberne in County Galway. What is happening is that we have an ongoing issue with public meetings, where hundreds of people are appearing to protest at the fact these wind farms are being imposed on them in areas where they are not at all suitable. We have guidelines that go back to 2006, and we have draft guidelines that have not been introduced. What we have is a total isolation of communities of young people. We have huge problems with this, and the Government needs to grasp it. The only solution is to put these floating wind turbines out in the ocean and get on with that rather than trying to destroy our country. In places where these are being proposed, I can guarantee the Minister of State that the local authority would not give planning permission for a house because of all the biodiversity that would be disturbed or the unsuitability of the drainage and road systems. Yet, we can see people who will invest in these things, bring them to a stage where they get their money and asset together, and they will sell it off. That is a problem facing the Minister of State straight away.

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