Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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4. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will provide an update on Bord na Móna's proposed Derryaad windfarm; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55661/22]

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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This question is to ask the Minister to provide an update on Bord na Móna’s proposed Derryaad wind farm; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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While the matter raised is a commercial matter for Bord na Móna, my Department understands that the company is preparing a new planning application for the proposed 150 MW Derryaad wind project and is currently consulting with the local community and other relevant stakeholders. The outcome of this extensive community outreach will inform the project and its scope. My Department also understands that Bord na Móna intends to submit the new planning application for the project to An Bord Pleanála under the provisions of the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006 in early 2023. Bord na Móna has additional information publicly available on the dedicated project website: www.derryaddwindfarm.ie.

By way of a broader response, I am very supportive of the strategic direction Bord na Móna is taking. The company is proving itself successful as it moves from brown to green. I believe wind farms on the likes of former bogs can be built in a way that is sensitive. It will not be done without complications and challenges, but my understanding is that the court decision, which quashed the original planning application, related to an issue concerning whether it was necessary for Bord na Móna to precisely identify the tip height of the turbines. My understanding is that some of those issues have been resolved. It is now a matter for the planning authorities to decide the complex issues often encountered around these projects. The broad direction and success that Bord na Móna is deriving from its renewable energy strategy is something I welcome and support.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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In saying this is a commercial matter, what we as a State must think about is whether this is the best use of State land. During the discussions we have had in the last two and half years, since the start of this term and concerning the climate Act, it has become absolutely clear that when we have climate action we must also have biodiversity action. These are essentially two heads of the same coin and we should not have one without the other. While a wind farm on peatland may reduce emissions from an energy efficiency perspective, we must look at whether the impact of this will be a loss when we consider biodiversity and carbon sequestration within peatland itself. There is clear evidence in this regard. A five-year study has been conducted on this subject and has clearly shown that rewetting drained bogs reduces carbon emissions, establishes optimum conditions for sequestration and sets the site for a climate-cooling trajectory. The question for us, therefore, is whether this project is the best use of State land. I do not believe it is. We do need wind farms, but they need to be in the correct places. I would like to hear the Minister's opinion on this point.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The location of wind farms is a sensitive issue. All Deputies in this House will have different views on where the appropriate locations might be. I believe there is a role in this regard for the likes of Bord na Móna's lands in the midlands for wind farms for a variety of reasons. First, Bord na Móna has historical experience of working with communities, employing people from communities and getting engineering projects delivered in a way that has the support of local communities. This has been one of the real difficulties we have had with wind farm projects. Equally, these locations tend to be long distances from neighbouring houses or other areas, so these are some of the few areas of the country where we do not have some of the dispersed density of housing.

The Deputy is absolutely correct that we must treat our boglands with the utmost sensitivity. I saw in a similar project already developed by Bord na Móna near the Bog of Allen, and I cannot remember the exact name of the wind farm, while visiting it during its construction phase what I would imagine was a similar approach to that the company will take with this project. The area for the turbines obviously must have foundations in the bog area, extending down into the marl below so there is stability. The rest of these bogs will typically have seen the extraction of the majority of the peat. Once construction has been completed then, as I understand it, this will allow for the rewetting of the vast extent of the area of the bog. A turbine is located within it and there is a need for a road and other infrastructure, but I believe this can be done in a way which will allow for the complex trade-off required in these situations.

We could go with the view that we would have nothing in any of these areas and that we would, instead, put our wind farms elsewhere. There would be difficulties in western mountains and in the south west and north west, and Deputies from there would say they get too large a concentration of wind farms in those areas. I believe that there is a role for wind energy generation in the midlands on the likes of Bord na Móna's lands. This must be undertaken sensitively and planning approval must be got from An Bord Pleanála. This is not a certainty, but I believe the company is right to try.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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I absolutely agree. I believe there is a strength in Bord na Móna working with communities. What I think it must be doing, however, is working with communities to restore, protect and rewet those peatlands. There should be a just transition for those communities. There were proposals for a mid-Shannon wilderness park in the midlands. Is this a concept that the Minister supports? There is great potential in this area to have a wilderness park and a very natural area of this type. Considering it is State land and, as the Minister said, it is a long distance from households, this seems the perfect opportunity to create something really natural, useful and biodiverse in our State. Does the Minister support the creation of this mid-Shannon wilderness park? Will he work with Longford County Council and Bord na Móna to progress this proposal?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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When I visited the wind farm project I spoke about that was being developed by Bord na Móna, and it is now complete and operating. I also took the opportunity to visit an example of where Bord na Móna is engaged in the rehabilitation of bogs. I saw the skills the company had in extracting peat were the same skills needed in blocking drains and managing the water table. The Deputy is absolutely correct that it is possible to get an incredible return of nature, including birdlife, insect life and flora and fauna of every variety. There is a huge benefit to be found here. It is not just in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions but also in the restoration for biodiversity in the rehabilitation of our boglands. I do, therefore, support this endeavour. I do not have the details of the particular park the Deputy referred to, but the midlands cannot just be a repository for large-scale new energy industrial infrastructure. It must be the home of the restoration of nature at scale, particularly in our bogland habitats. I very much support this concept in general.