Anthony Lawlor (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is typical of the Department down in the Custom House. Most of them live in the city and have no experience of what goes on in rural areas. It is unfortunate the Minister of State is giving the response. It is not his Department. The Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, and Minister of State, Deputy English, have allowed this crap response to be given here today. This has been going on since 2014 and various Ministers have stood up in the Dáil or in this Chamber and said the guidelines will be published. They were supposed to be out last October or November but there was another excuse not to publish them. There are communities where planning applications have been made to local authorities and to An Bord Pleanála which are using guidelines from 2006. Things have changed since 2006. They are not the same as they were. The height of the turbines has gone way above what was advocated in the guidelines in 2006. This is crap. We do not expect this from a Department. There is some official in the Custom House who, when his arse hits the files on this issue, his head hits the roof, there are that many files on it. This sort of crap is not what the public wants. They want decisions. Unfortunately, the Minister of State is taking the brunt of what I am saying, but it is not his responsibility.