Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)

Cuirim céad fáilte roimh an Aire. Ba mhaith liom tréaslú leis an Seanadóir Ó Ceallaigh faoin Bille seo a thabhair chun cinn. Is mór an rud é do Seanadóir ar bith Bille a thabhairt chun cinn agus comhghairdeas leis faoi sin. Ba mhaith liom a dheimhniú dó go bhfuil Sinn Féin ag tabhairt tacaíochta iomlán don Bhille, agus is breá an rud an tacaíocht tras-pháirtí seo a fheiceáil. Tá súil agam go dtabharfaidh páirtithe eile and Rialtais don rún tábhachtach seo.

It is important to state that Sinn Féin strongly supports the development of renewable energy and maintaining a clean environment. This Bill is an important addition to the framework of legislation, which we are happy to support. I hope it will be passed by the House and that it will be debated in the Dáil. It is clear that primary legislation is required in this area, as there is no statutory obligatory distance requirement. That means those who propose to erect turbines apply to erect them as close as 200 m from homes. We have had first hand experience of such sitings in Connemara, which I mentioned previously. It probably shows up some of the idiosyncrasies of the different approaches that county councils take to these developments. Galway County Council has adopted a wind strategy which allows for the siting of wind turbines up to 200 m from a dwelling. Planning permission was given for such a development, to which the locals objected and thankfully An Bord Pleanála has overturned that decision.

Another aspect of Galway County Council's policy I find extraordinary is that when the areas that turbines can be built were marked out on the map, all the Special Protection Areas, SPAs, and SSE areas have been excluded. My understanding is that European legislation states that a wind farm, or wind energy is allowable within an SSE area and not much else is allowable within those areas. Donegal County Council has given permission and has included the SSEs and SPAs in the areas where wind turbine and wind farms can be developed in County Donegal. More direction for the different county councils is needed to ensure the country has a cohesive policy. This legislation would add to the cohesion of policy across the State and would ensure that this important development can be done, but in such a way that it fits in with local communities.

I have received an e-mail from a County Clare resident who is awaiting a decision on a proposals to have turbines the height of the Dublin Spire located as close as 430 m from their home. That is clearly unacceptable and will represent an unwarranted aesthetic and environmental intrusion on that community.

There are different regulations at local authority level and Clare County Council refused permission for the proposal to which I referred, which differs from the Galway scenario I mentioned. Generally, in Clare County Council's administrative area , the distance is set at between 400 m and 500 m from the nearest dwelling, however, it has been argued that this is inadequate as it is based on the height of turbines that are now rarely installed and with the average height of modern turbines up to 155 m, developments of that height require to be located a much greater distance from dwellings.

This Bill proposes that turbines should be placed no closer than 2 km from a residential premises. Given the expectation that more investment will go towards the development of wind power to generate electricity, that does not present a problem and developers might argue that it would restrict the placing of turbines, certainly of the greater heights, making the project unviable. Other structural issues must be looked at in siting wind farms. I mentioned that the ESB is developing the electricity grid around the country but in some cases, as in Connemara, where it is developing a new 110 kV line, there is no access for the wind farms to connect into the 110 kV line. In Galway, no more than in Clare, as Senator Conway has announced, where we are full of wind - - - -