John Whelan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, to the House. I am very grateful to him for coming to the House to respond to my question. As the Minister is aware, there is a great deal of anxiety and speculation concerning the status of the intergovernmental agreement between the UK and the Government on the wind export project.

I have been inundated with contact from communities from Knockmore in Mayo to Kildangan in County Kildare and Ratheniska, Rosenallis and Vicarstown in my native county of Laois. Communities have been living in the shadow of the prospect of the development of what they see as daunting, imposing and unnecessary giant industrial wind farms which were proposed to be constructed by both semi-State and private developers for the purpose of wind energy export. As I understand from previous pronouncements by the Minister in the Seanad, as recently as 19 February the intergovernmental agreement was contingent on the two Governments concluding an agreement and that the wind energy export project was predicated on that basis. That being the case we are a little taken aback at the pronouncements from some of the companies and agencies in the past 48 hours to the effect that they insist on proceeding with the projects.

I cannot see how this could be the case as they were always intended to be export projects. The market was deemed to be within the United Kingdom, as there is no capacity or demand within the Irish system in terms of energy generation or within the grid.

Second, I ask the Minister to bring absolute clarity to the situation for families across the country and for the various developers involved so that they can know where they stand and not be left in limbo wondering about the status of the intergovernmental agreement. Was today the day the agreement was to be signed between the Irish and British Governments - since the Taoiseach is in London as we speak with the British Prime Minister, David Cameron? There is also a question of the implications of this latest development for our entire energy policy and strategy as it impacts on EirGrid, Bord na Móna and Coillte and in terms of the energy strategy being pursued by Sustainable Energy Ireland, all agencies which fall within the remit of the Department.

I am grateful the Minister has come into the House for this matter and hopefully he can bring some clarity and finality on this issue.