John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister back to the House.

I would welcome anything that would strengthen the viability of the postal network. As Senator Cullinane has said, the post office is an important part of rural Ireland and rural life so should be protected. My grandfather was a postmaster and he passed on his post office to my uncle who, in turn, passed it on to my sister. Therefore, I understand the importance and necessity to have post offices but in most cases they are unviable and need to attract extra business. I welcome the appointment of Bobby Kerr to chair the business development group and I hope something good will result for the post office network.

Recently I learned that the Department of Social Protection sent a letter to somebody advising that if he or she wanted to avail of a household benefits package to give bank details only. He or she was not given the opportunity to avail of the postal service. Perhaps the Minister will follow the matter up with the Minister for Social Protection.

For the past couple of years there has been much scaremongering about the closure of rural post offices. This Government has not closed any post offices. In the past four years 24 post offices have closed down but they were not forced closures. In many cases, as Senator Whelan rightly pointed out, there was nobody willing to take on the running of them for the reasons I have mentioned.

I welcome the roll-out of broadband, albeit it has been ongoing for several years. The lack of broadband has always been used as excuse for why we do not have investment in rural Ireland. The sooner it is rolled out there, the better.

There is discontent across the country about the development of wind farms. When we refer to renewable energy, we tend to concentrate too much on wind power, without looking at the alternatives. I have sought proper setback distances for wind turbines in my Private Members’ Bill, Wind Turbines Bill 2012. I am also conscious of the fact that all of the experts - economists and Engineers Ireland - have said wind energy generation is a folly, as it is losing money, rather than making it. However, we have not listened to them. Nor did we listen to them in the past when they told us about the possibility of the bubble of the Celtic tiger bursting and that we would end up with ghost housing estates. We will probably end up with ghost wind farms unless someone starts to take the issue seriously.

On top of this, local authorities are hell-bent on promoting wind energy projects as they get rates from wind farm developers. I know of a case in Wexford of a wind farm project not complying with planning conditions regarding noise levels. It has more or less stated it will not comply with them, but the local authority has stated its hands are tied and that there is nothing it can do. Local authorities are not prepared to invoke section 140 of the Planning and Development Act to shut down non-compliant wind farms because they are on the same side. That is why people believe they have no voice. All we hear are the spin merchants talking about community engagement and all that kind of stuff. Community engagement means nothing. It just means a consultancy firm is brought in to tell the community what the wind farm company is proposing to do. It then takes on board, supposedly, the concerns of the community, which it does not. Consequently, the process is a farce. Then there was community acceptance which the former Minister, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, said should be part of these developments. However, if a community does not want a wind farm to be built, it still does not have a choice.

While oil prices have come down, this is still not reflected in petrol or diesel prices. Last week, when I left Leinster House, I noted that diesel was €1.14 a litre in Dublin and the same price when I reached Ballina, County Mayo. However, in the towns in between I noted that the price was €1.22 and €1.23, nine cent dearer. There seems to be a degree of cartelism in every town as there is not a difference of one cent in prices at the pumps. If one puts €50 of the more expensive diesel into one's car, the difference comes to €4.50. That is a lot of money that should be passed on to the customer.