Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as ucht teacht isteach agus é seo a thógáil. It is fitting that today, when I did something I only do once a week and collected my post in Leinster House, I got Government notice of statutory instruments designating special areas of conservation in County Galway, for the attention of land owners and land users. These are designated special areas of conservation that have now been confirmed at EU level.

They afford huge environmental protection. In fact, people would argue that they provide environmental protection over and above human protection in terms of creating employment and having roads, water systems, sewerage systems and so on. This is very relevant to today's debate. I am sure the Minister of State would agree that we need to preserve the environment, both on land and at sea, irrespective of who is doing the developing.

I am sure the Minister of State believes in balance. There is no absolute good in anything humans do. There is always a balance and a trade-off. There is nobody who does not agree with the harnessing of our massive natural resource, particularly wind, off the coast, including waves, tides and anything that can be done. In doing that, however, it is important to listen to the concerns of local communities and make sure we strike a balance between wind energy targets and the rights of residents in various areas.

One of the biggest challenges we face is the increasing size of turbines. Originally, turbines were very small. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle will be familiar with the turbines in Cois Fharraige that Pól Ó Foighil erected many years ago, which look very small today. They have grown, however. To give the Minister of State an example, I am told the turbines at the Arklow Bank Wind Park are 12 km out to sea and 124 m tall. We might compare that to what is proposed, for example, in the Sceirde Rocks Windfarm. Some of them will be up to 11 km off the coast, but I understand that some will be as near as less than 6 km away. They are over 300 m in height, which is the height of the Eiffel Tower, in one of the most pristine and beautiful areas in the country and near human habitation where there is quite a considerable population. Therefore, the question has to be asked as to where the balance is. Of course, if they were floating turbines out in the ocean, there would be no problem. In our rush, however, and it is an understandable rush to get wind energy harnessed, these have been proposed as fixed-base turbines. I am not trying to get into the planning of these today. I understand there will be a statutory planning process through the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, and maybe the Minister of State can outline all of that. However, there is a need to update the 2006 wind development guidelines - I have just outlined to the Minister of State the huge change in the technology - to make sure they meet the new requirements in terms of the heights of these turbines and the distance they are recessed from the nearest human habitation. If we do not tackle this, we are going to find that we are taking a shortcut to nowhere. We have seen this in the past where in people's hurry and their unwillingness to try to strike the right balance, they actually cause more delay than if they had taken a more considered and balanced approach and gotten everybody to move forward together. There is certainly one thing I would say to the Minister of State, which is that after all the restrictions that have been placed on these communities to start with, there would be huge resentment if anyone said to them that their quality of life does not count equally.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I thank Deputy Ó Cuív for raising this Topical Issue matter. At the outset, I would like to highlight that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has responsibility for planning guidelines for onshore wind energy development. Following a recent transfer of functions from this Department, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications has responsibility for guidelines for offshore wind energy development in the context of that Department’s responsibility for marine planning.

With regard to onshore wind energy, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is currently undertaking a focused review of the 2006 Wind Energy Development Guidelines. The review is addressing a number of key aspects of the guidelines including setback distance, noise, shadow flicker, community obligation, community dividend and grid connections. The review aims to strike an appropriate balance between addressing the concerns of local communities, as the Deputy raised, by ensuring there is greater and earlier community engagement by wind energy developers, while maintaining Ireland’s ability to deliver on its binding climate and renewable energy policy obligations. It is envisaged that the revised guidelines will provide greater consistency of approach in planning for onshore wind energy development and will provide certainty and clarity to the planning system, the wind industry and local communities. The Department of Housing, in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, which has primary responsibility for environmental noise matters, has been working to advance guidance on the noise aspect of guidelines having regard to, inter alia, the revised 2030 target to generate up to 80% of our electricity from renewable sources. This work is substantially complete. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, will make any further changes to the draft guidelines that are deemed necessary or appropriate in the wake of this work, with a view to concluding the review of the guidelines at the earliest possible opportunity.

With regard to guidelines for offshore wind energy developments, the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021, known as the MAP Act, introduced a comprehensive new marine management regime for Ireland’s maritime area including forward planning, authorisations and enforcement. The MAP Act includes provisions for the development of statutory marine planning guidelines. The offshore wind energy marine planning guidelines are the first to be developed under these provisions. The purpose of these guidelines will be to set out the various elements that make up offshore wind energy developments, creating a common understanding among stakeholders; to clarify the decision-making processes, requirements and organisational roles under the MAP Act as they relate to development permissions for fixed foundation offshore wind energy; and to inform offshore wind energy planning applications as well as the subsequent process of making development permission determinations, particularly with regard to the requirements of the national marine planning framework.

Offshore wind energy is an emerging industry in Ireland with all actors working in a new legislative framework, much of which is being applied for the first time. In this context, the offshore wind energy marine planning guidelines are being informed by related existing guidelines and guidance across government, as well as lessons learnt from other jurisdictions. Discussions are ongoing with teams in relevant Departments in this regard. A dedicated and regularly convened working group including representatives from the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, An Bord Pleanála, MARA and the Marine Institute Ireland is supporting development of the offshore guidelines. In addition, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications is seeking to provide more expert resources to support development of the guidelines.

In accordance with the requirements, the guidelines are subject to a strategic environmental assessment and appropriate assessment before they can be finalised, and an independent consultant has been retained to help to deliver these assessments. As part of these processes, the draft offshore wind energy marine planning guidelines will be subject to public consultation once prepared.

I will come back in with a supplementary comment about the issue around public participation and striking the balance about which the Deputy is quite right in terms of the genuine concerns of local residents and the increasing size of turbines. Again, it will be welcome news to the Deputy that the new guidelines for onshore energy will be published shortly.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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This reply is unusually helpful. We normally get two or three pages that never address the issue until the last three lines. I thank the Minister of State for that and for the effort that has been put into giving a meaningful answer. I think he would agree it would a reasonable supposition that whatever guidelines are brought in on land in terms of height versus setback would apply on near inshore and offshore turbines. I will table a Topical Issue matter - I might get lucky again in the Topical Issue lottery - to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and give him an opportunity to come in to explain his side of the story. I presume that if we decide that on land it has to be a certain distance from a house relative to the height, that will also apply to houses that are on the land where the turbines are in the sea. The Minister of State would agree that anything else would be irrational.

I obviously welcome that the issue of noise is being addressed, which would also apply in the sea. In fact, noise would probably travel better over the sea than over land. It is good that shadow flicker, community obligation, community dividend and grid connections will all be in the guidelines. Can the Minister answer the $64,000 question? This is going to have a huge effect on the marine guidelines too because for the near inshore ones, they will be fairly similar. Can the Minister of State tell me when they are likely to be published? He should not tell me it will be very soon or in due course or after a proper process because it was 2006.

Look at the changes in the world between 2006 and 2024. I need to get a real clear indication of when these will be. I will certainly be pursuing the Minister of State's colleague and party leader to ensure that the guidelines on these issues relating to marine or offshore turbines would also be published at the same time. If people think it is public consultation to have bad guidelines and laws that do not really take them into account, but with plenty of consultation about it, it will be game over before they start, and I think they misunderstand ordinary people.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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On community engagement, supplementary to the wind energy guidelines, there is a code of practice for wind energy development in Ireland and guidelines for community engagement. I am of the view that under the Aarhus Convention and public participation directive that engagement should take place at an early stage of any process or development of onshore or offshore. That is important. On the onshore guidelines, my understanding is that the updated guidelines will be published in quarter 3 of this year, as I understand it. I cannot give an indication about the offshore guidelines. It is contingent on quite a number of other factors, not just proximity to housing, that might be on the shoreline. These include, as the Deputy mentioned earlier, special protected areas for birds and marine protected areas, the legislation for which we will be publishing shortly. All of these are important considered factors that have to be taken account with regard to the location of offshore wind.

I will not comment further about the increasing size of turbines but all of this will be developed in the new guidelines that are due to be published. The Deputy is correct that it is important to strike a balance between listening to the concerns of local communities and taking on board their rights. That is hugely important. It has not always been the case in this country. It is important to do that. I assure the Deputy that the onshore guidelines will be published once the process is complete with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and our Department with regard to noise. I cannot give a date for the offshore guidelines but will revert to the Deputy with a possible timeline for the publication of that.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit.