Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. The phrase "An Irish solution to an Irish problem" is in many ways much abused. Any derision about it denies our capacity for ingenuity and creativeness when it comes to trying to deal with certain problems that inevitably arise in Government and administration from time to time. Far from offering us even an Irish solution to an Irish problem today, the Minister of State has come in and given us something more reminiscent of "Little Britain" and the Carol Beer approach to government and administration where the "computer says No". He has given us no credible argument or reason the Government cannot and should not set out to cure this defect, which undoubtedly was there and led to us being in breach of environmental requirements and to the State having to pay such a large amount - up to €17 million - in fines to date, by creative legislation and negotiation with the European Commission, including legislation such as that my friend and colleague, Senator McDowell, has brought forward today, with the support of his fellow Members of the Independent Group in this House. I think this speaks to a very disappointing lack of imagination on the side of the Government. It has not said this cannot be done legally. It has not said it could be unconstitutional in any way or that we would be in violation of European regulations or rules, to which this country is undoubtedly subject these days.

I am equally disappointed by the putative future alternative government, Sinn Féin, in failing to see that sometimes it is actually possible to legislate to cure a past defect and to ensure that this wind farm, which I and my fellow Independent Senators have visited, could operate to the benefit of the environment and to our energy security challenges, as well as preventing further environmental damage from the uprooting of these turbines. The Minister of State has given no reason other than that there could somehow be inadvertent or unforeseen consequences. It is the usual Government palaver concerning why it does not want to take an idea on board.

The Minister of State had notice of and knew about Senator McDowell and the Independent Group's initiative. It was, therefore, open to the Government to talk to its civil servants, Brussels and whomever else it might be necessary to consult and say, "Listen, there is a good point here and we should not waste this valuable resource and do further damage by uprooting these turbines". The Government should make the position clear in this regard.We do not want to endorse the wrongdoing of the past so we need to come up with a solution whereby the party responsible for that past wrongdoing, environmental damage and unauthorised development cannot benefit financially or otherwise in the future. There is a way to do that and Senator McDowell has shown how. Instead, we get an unimaginative "Computer says no" response.

It speaks poorly of the Green Party in government. I would have thought in an election year its members would want to convince the thousands of people in Ireland who think Green Party members may have some good ideas but are utterly unrealistic people who would destroy life as we know it if they got half a chance-----