John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to discuss this very important issue on which we have had interaction on a couple of occasions. I have been beating my drum for the past 14 months since the introduction of my wind turbines Bill, which was very reasonable. There was a similar set of circumstances in the United Kingdom when I introduced my Bill although the setback distances in the United Kingdom were much greater than those I was proposing. My Bill was endorsed by many county councils from around the country. When the Bill went as far as Donegal County Council, the county manager asked that the 500 m guideline already in place be lifted so turbines could be put at every crossroads in the county. Since the introduction of my Bill, it seems there has been a race to the finish line. Wind energy developers are trying to get planning permission applications in as quickly as possible in case there is any change with regard to the guidelines. The Minister of State, who was in the House last week when the findings of the European Court of Justice were raised, will know that all the planning permissions granted between 1999 and 2012 were deemed illegal because they did not comply with an EU directive. As a result of the court ruling, which I put on the record of the House last week, the Government, local authorities and wind energy sector will be open to being sued unless the issue is dealt with. I outlined how it could be dealt with, that is, by a revocation of some of the planning permissions by the county councils and also by the withdrawal of the REFIT funding available to the wind energy sector.

To learn the effects of wind turbines on people, all one needs to do is talk to Dorothy and Michael Keane in Roscommon who lived 750 m from wind turbines and had to leave their house. I passed by the turbines last week and on a close-by road. The turbines are 100 m high and it is scary to look at them. They are monstrous, yet they are only 100 m high. When the guidelines were introduced in 2006, they were based on turbines that were 54 m high, approximately half of 100 m. The turbines being erected at present all around the country are as high as 185 m, which is three and a half times the height of the original turbines, yet the specified set-back distance of 500 m is the same for all. This guideline is being breached right across the country.

Wind energy policy was initiated by the last Government. We are just playing along with it. As Senator Barrett quite rightly pointed out, we need to examine the economics of wind energy. Over the past 14 months, I have stuck to the core issues, namely, planning and the distance turbines should be from people's homes. The other broad debate concerns what Senator Barrett alluded to. It appears we are losing money. We will not have cheaper electricity, but dearer electricity. By the time we are ready to export electricity to the United Kingdom, it could be so dear it will not take it from us. We could be landed with it and will have lost a lot of money.

What cost-benefit analysis has been done to date by people who know the business? With the greatest of respect to civil servants, it is the Civil Service that was in place in 2006 that is still examining this issue.

I am dealing with people from every part of the country, including Damien McCallig in Donegal, who is quite rightly asking questions about a wind turbine that fell down in Glenties on 25 March. Mr. McCallig is not receiving answers from anybody on how it happened.

It is really frustrating that we are still talking about this 14 months on. As Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill quite rightly pointed out, all the public representatives are representing the people right across the country who are affected by wind turbines. We and they are in the majority but the civil servants' views are the views that are being listened to.

In Roscommon, I deal with Mike de Jong and Ted Kelly, two very intelligent people. I also deal with Mr. Ray Burn in Wexford, a very intelligent and well-read person. These men know what they are talking about. I deal with Mr. Peter Crossan in Donegal and Yvonne Cronin in Galway. They all know what they are talking about but we are not listening to them. We are listening to a group of civil servants for whom it is a case of business as usual.

With regard to the excuses we are listening to the whole time, such as the excuse that there are targets to be reached, we set a target in 2006 that 40% of our energy must be green energy in 2020. On what scientific basis did we arrive at a figure of 40%? Why was it not 80% or 20%? When we came up with the figure, did we consider what it would mean infrastructurally? Will it mean that we must have turbines at every crossroads, with the whole country crisscrossed by pylons, destroying absolutely our beautiful landscape? A survey carried out in Donegal recently indicated the people are saying that if the county were to be destroyed by wind turbines, it would have a serious effect on tourism.

I acknowledge that the economics of wind energy is not the remit of the Minister of State but that of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. I plead with her, however, to listen to the views of all the Senators who are to speak today on how wind turbines and wind farm developments are really affecting those people who must live beside them.