Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am not against wind turbines. However, I am against wind turbines that do not allow people to have a night's sleep. I have been trying to think of a way to get through to those in government in order that they will understand how important it is that they listen to this. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, is alongside the Taoiseach. In addition to them, how many parents, grandparents and brothers and sisters of young children are here? When young children come home from the maternity hospital, you spend the first eight to 12 weeks trying to get them into a sleep pattern. You are hanging for sleep and they are trying to sleep. That is what those people up in the Gallery have been putting up with since 2006. There is no end to their inability to get a night's sleep. Why? It is because energy companies' profits are being put before people's lives.

A study carried out here showed that in order to make the number of wind farms there are in Ireland viable, a 100 m high turbine must be kept 400 m away from homes. In any other European country, the ratio is 100 m to 1 km. It is set at 100 m to 400 m here because Ireland has a smaller land area and that is what is needed to make it viable. The profitability of wind farms is coming down and they are showing losses. Why is that? It is because the ratio is being kept at 100 m to 400 m. The companies would like it to be set at 100 m to 200 m. That is what is wrong. Offshore turbines are a better option because they are located away from people's homes. Every time the Taoiseach sees a wind turbine going round or a person from the 20 counties represented in the Gallery today, he should remember when he brought his babies home, hoping that they would sleep one night in order that he could get a night's sleep. That is what the Government has been putting these people through since 2006 with outdated regulation.

The Irish courts have ruled that wind turbine noise is a nuisance and that the neighbours of wind farms are being deprived of sleep. The High Court confirmed that the Government got it wrong. The noise guidance and planning conditions that are in place have not protected neighbours' sleep. That is what is wrong here. The Taoiseach has said that this is not an urban thing or a rural thing/ However, there are no wind farms in urban areas; they are located in rural areas. We are asking for the Government to get the distance right. It should go with 100 m to 1 km, let these people get a night's sleep and let them have a future. Can the Taoiseach imagine his children going to school without having had a night's sleep? Can he imagine someone driving a truck, a bus or any other vehicle without having had a night's sleep? That puts other people in danger, but those to whom I refer have to go to work to feed their children and protect their families. If this regulation is not changed to ensure that the ratio is least 100 m to 1 km, the Government will not protect the families who are here today.

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