Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)

Approximately 33% of our electricity comes through onshore wind energy. There are significant wind farm developments across the country, many of which do not cause any difficulty for any communities.

The same goes with solar. I have visited many of them as well. People need clean, green renewable energy that is affordable and affordability will be driven through renewables. That said, however, the noise element of the guidelines is critically important. I have updated the Deputy on where that is at. The adoption of revised guidelines will be a matter for planning. This is not me passing the buck; it is just it sits under the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. We are working with that Department directly on that. That piece of work is nearly concluded. I would like to see it concluded because people need that type of certainty to see what is there. Technologies are changing for the better as well. That is why we need those guidelines updated too. There are real issues for some people in some communities but there have not been issues in many other communities and we need to make sure we can continue to drive on renewable sources of energy here. I will keep the Deputy informed of progress. People will get an opportunity to input into these guidelines when they go out on public display and I am certain the Deputy and many others, both in government and in opposition, will want to feed into them too.

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