Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh míle maith agat, a Aire. I appreciate the Minister's reply. I am a bit taken aback by the reply in one sense because it strikes me as a "closing the stable door after the horse has bolted" type reply. The Minister is saying the strategic environmental assessment and appropriate assessment are being developed and that he is hoping they are developed by the end of 2015 for the period going forward. I commend that. I think that is important.

However, the fact of the matter is, on the ground, most of the planning applications for the wind farms, because of the grid connections and so forth, will have been agreed by the end of 2015. Therefore, the Minister's strategic assessment will not impact on the ones going up at the moment. There are issues with all the wind farms for which planning permission is being given at the moment. There has been criticism of this by so many people, including many Senators in this House, because of the lack of legislation in the area. This was raised with the Minister's predecessor. I find it quite extraordinary and I call on the Minister to look at this issue and to talk to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly. Wind farm developments should be stalled until this strategic assessment is in place so that the Minister is sure that his policy will feed into the Green Paper that he has and we can ensure that the impact on communities is safe and balanced. Surely the environmental assessment has a purpose and a reason. However, to have given all the planning permissions before that is done seems to me to be a very back-to-front way of developing the industry. I certainly do not think the developer-led industry should be let dictate to the Government and to the Minister how things should go ahead. The environmental impact and the community impact should be put first and the rights of those people should be put first and foremost before we push ahead with developments that could have a detrimental impact in the future.