Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The motion covers two issues, which are interconnected. I will provide examples in County Meath. The parish of Kilbeg and Staholmog and the parishes of Oristown and Kilberry, along with all those rural parishes around Kells, are at the intersection of these turbine projects and the pylon projects. The pylons are going from north to south and the turbines are effectively going from east to west. That is an issue that has not been examined by the Government. Certain parts of the country seem to be a magnet for these things, because certain people want to bring them to those areas and many people do not.

Renewable energy must be part of the solution; only yesterday I called for a debate on climate change. It was outrageous to make a connection between pylons and climate change, and I think the Green Party did that. There is no connection whatsoever, and we must get it out that we can support serious efforts to combat climate change but not equate that with a necessity to put up pylons. If renewable energy is obtained from wind, it can be put underground as well, but there are other ways to generate and distribute electricity.

There have been a huge number of applications for wind farms. It is a crazy situation when three projects are competing with each other. I presume they cannot all get the go-ahead, but people on each of those projects will individually will say that the others are really unprofessional and do not have a hope. The reality is that the three projects cannot go ahead. Certain people are getting their hopes up that it will go ahead, because obviously there is an economic benefit to them, and I certainly have no problem with that. I have said that at public meetings and I encourage people to have respect for their neighbours and to adhere to the planning process.