Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I am a bit frustrated by this myself as I am often asked this question and I have to give the same answer. The Minister of State, Deputy John Cummins, has responsibility for this and is doing very good work on it. I am very grateful to him for that. We need to see these guidelines. I have to be honest that when we see the guidelines not everyone will be delighted with them, I am sure, but we still need to provide a degree of clarity as to what the planning landscape looks like from a guidelines point of view in terms of renewable energy. Deputy Catherine Callaghan raised this matter with me recently in relation to her constituency. The Minister of State has told me that the guidelines are forthcoming in the next months. I will ask him to keep the House updated. I am sure he will be happy to engage with Deputies who have an interest in this issue. The new Planning and Development Act outlines quite a bit of work to be done on noise. There will be a chance for people to have input on the final draft guidelines. I will ask the Minister of State to write to the Deputy directly and expedite this as quickly as possible.

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