Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

If the Senator watched "Questions and Answers" last night, he would be aware that many rang in and praised An Taisce. I have not seen a great deal of involvement in my county with regard to any planning applications where An Taisce has objected to the planning development. I have seen no classic examples. This has been exaggerated out of all proportion. It is like a mantra among Fianna Fáil politicians. When it wants to blame somebody following a planning application refusal it automatically blames An Taisce. There is a terrible contradiction here. In my county we have never had a material contravention to the draft development plans, unless it was introduced by the officials for various reasons. The policy of all parties on the council is that we do not entertain people who want to do this. People came to me from Kerry who wanted to set up a business on the national primary route asking why I would not move a section 4. When I said we will not move a section 4 they said they would go to a Fianna Fáil councillor to get it done, but the Fianna Fáil councillor said the same.

In regard to An Taisce and planning, one has got to look at the whole approach to section 4s. The sad aspect of them is that they exist in many counties which have a high tourism and amenity value. They are depriving the counties in the long term of a revenue base from tourism. I am not here to defend An Taisce. I merely want to recall the realities of planning as I know them in my county. Often it is criticised out of all proportion in respect of its status. It is easy to say we should get rid of it, the same as we got rid of Dúchas. Perhaps that is Fianna Fáil policy and Ministers like to control all aspects of it in order to protect planning and heritage.

On the issue of farming and trying to generate extra revenue for farms, a group of farmers has got together on wind energy. There is a moratorium at present in regard to wind energy because of a concern of the energy regulator and particularly EirGrid and I do not know when it will end. I ask that somebody tell the planning authorities the acceptable number of megawatts that will go into the national grid. What is happening at present is that expectations are being fuelled due to the success of planning applications. They may not be sustainable because they may not get connected to the national grid subsequently and much expenditure is involved in the preparation of submissions. That has provided an extra revenue base for many farmers in different communities. It could be stifled for the future. Time does not permit me to deal with many other topics.