Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent Ireland Party)

I am not against wind farms or biodigesters but I am for health guidelines being adhered to. It has been shown in the documentation I have here, released under access to information on the environment regulations, that in November 2021 and April 2022 the then Minister, former Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, agreed to abandon the 2017 preferred draft approach to wind energy guidelines, a plan based on science and environmental law and a format approved by Government. Instead of following the law, Eamon Ryan turned it into a wind industry fairy godmother with no noise limits to protect health, no plan to deal with amplitude modulation - the whoosh and thump - and no action on low-frequency noise - the hum and rumble. These issues are now in front of the High Court, with three wind turbines in Wexford having been turned off on the basis of these same issues related to health.

The former Minister, Eamon Ryan, decided at the time that he had the fairy dust to over-ride the EPA expert advice. Did he think magic and strategic environmental assessments? That is what it looks like. This is not just bad policy; it is a serious breach of trust. Both Ministers ignored expert warnings and environmental laws. That is not leadership; it is actually recklessness. What legal authority did they have to do this? The HSE recommends the WHO noise standards to An Bord Pleanála for the protection of health. How can the HSE say one thing and the Government policy says something else? Will the Tánaiste now refer this whole matter to the Department of Health and the HSE for a proper public review? Will he stall wind energy generation until the review has taken place on the basis of health grounds?

Everyone here is for wind but we are also for the health of people who live in the areas where there are wind farms. At the moment in this country we have roughly 1,600 wind turbines. Under the 2030 policies, to reach the target we have to meet and to get constant power we could actually have to put up 7,000 to 8,000 wind farms on this island. Is this why the 2006 guidelines have never been updated? Is this why Eamon Ryan decided to ignore health guidelines for the people of Ireland and put wind energy above health? These people were living here before any applications went in. Then, for five years, the DMAPs were delayed, under which we could have looked at offshore and moved it along to help us on wind energy. This is what I am trying to say. Are we now putting everything else above health for the profiteering of wind farms, to push on to make the 2030 policy?

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