John Whelan (Labour)
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With the permission of the Chair, I would like to share my time with Senator John Kelly who has a profound and long-standing interest in this issue.

Caít Keane (Fine Gael)
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The sharing of time is not allowed on Adjournment matters.

John Whelan (Labour)
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No disrespect to the Chair, but I have shared time on the Adjournment on numerous occasions.

Caít Keane (Fine Gael)
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I am advised it is not allowed, but I will use my discretion.

If the Senator has shared time previously, I must check on that. If it has been allowed, far be it from me to stop him now. I will check the regulations.

John Whelan (Labour)
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I fully respect the official and the Chair in this matter, but I assure them that I have been facilitated a number of times.

Caít Keane (Fine Gael)
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I believe the Senator. Thousands might not but I do.

John Whelan (Labour)
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I appreciate the Chair's lenience. I do not want to delay the Minister.

Caít Keane (Fine Gael)
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The Senators will have two minutes each. Senator Whelan has wasted half a minute.

John Whelan (Labour)
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This is a divisive issue throughout rural communities. We repeatedly hear from the Government benches and Ministers that a robust planning regime is in place but I am sure the Minister will agree that people have been given reason in the past two decades to doubt the planning process. We are all familiar with the Priory Hall fiasco. There are other such examples throughout the country.

I do not represent vexatious people or those who protest at the drop of a hat but rural families with young children are genuinely concerned about living within 500 m of monstrous wind turbines in clusters of between 30 and 50. I commend the Minister and his Department on initiating a process of revising the guidelines and planning regulations pertaining to wind farms. It was necessary, as the current regulations are not fit for purpose. Nowhere in Europe are there turbines as large as 187 m. They reach as high as the spire at the top of Liberty Hall. We are asking families to live within 500 m of them. This is untenable. The new planning guidelines should include the recommendations made by Senator Kelly's Wind Turbines Bill, under which wind turbines must be located at a sufficient set-back distance from family homes. The issue is causing considerable distress and division among rural communities.

John Kelly (Labour)
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I welcome the Minister. We need to bring people with us on this issue. To do so, we need consensus. Proper set-back distances will achieve that and remove the need to debate the viability of wind energy. According to the Department, the set-back distances outlined in my Bill meant that Ireland would not achieve its targets.

At our think-in on Monday, we received a presentation from offshore wind farm developers. Offshore wind farms are twice as expensive to build as onshore wind farms but are eight times more productive. The mathematics suggest that this is the direction we should be taking. This situation is like someone deciding to get married and to build a one-bedroom house, only to add more bedrooms when he or she has children.

We are not seeing democracy in action when the Government can simply decide that it does not support a Bill that has passed all Stages in the Seanad, effectively burying it. This issue will become more prominent nationally. The only way to solve it and to get people off the Government's back is to keep wind farms so far from homes that they do not affect people.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senators Whelan and Kelly for raising this important issue. I am taking this matter on behalf of the delegated Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan.

My Department's wind energy development guidelines were published in June 2006 and provide advice to planning authorities on catering for wind energy through the development plan and development management processes. The guidelines are also intended to ensure a consistency of approach throughout the country in the identification of suitable locations for wind energy development and the treatment of planning applications for such developments.

My Department, in conjunction with the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and other stakeholders, is undertaking a targeted review of the 2006 guidelines, focusing on noise, proximity and shadow flicker. A press notice was issued in January inviting submissions on this targeted review. More than 550 submissions were received from individual members of the public and various stakeholders in response to the notice. In anyone's language, this is a strong response to the first stage of a process that will provide further and more extensive opportunities for the public to shape the review.

Earlier this year, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, commissioned the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, to invite proposals from suitably qualified organisations for the completion of a study to examine the significance of noise related to onshore wind farms. The objective of the study is to obtain evidence upon which to evaluate the appropriateness of the existing guidelines in respect of noise impacts and, if considered necessary, suggest changes. It will take account of the following key contextual issues: the evolution of wind turbine technologies since the current guidelines were published; experience to date in their application; research relating to wind turbine noise issues, including an examination of international practice, since the guidelines were adopted; and Ireland's binding targets in terms of renewable energy uptake and penetration.

The SEAI awarded the contract for carrying out the study to Marshall Day Acoustics in July 2013. Marshall Day Acoustics has significant international experience in this field and has previously participated in reviews of the wind farm noise guidelines for the Australian and New Zealand Governments. This study will form a key input into the review of the statutory guidelines. It is expected to be completed shortly to allow preparation and publication of revised statutory guidelines in draft form.

The indicative timetable for the publication of the draft guidelines is the fourth quarter of this year. The draft guidelines will, like all other new or revised guidelines, go out for extensive public consultation for a period of six weeks to two months to allow for publication of the final guidelines in 2014. Once the consultation period is closed, the submissions received on the draft guidelines will be considered and taken into account in the final form of the guidelines.

I am conscious of the concern that exists in some communities regarding the development of wind energy while recognising the importance of renewable, clean energy for the future of our environment and economy. I assure the Senators that the final wind energy development guidelines, when published, will take cognisance of all views.

John Whelan (Labour)
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I thank the Minister for his frank and thorough response. Recent concerns have been voiced by the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association, ITBA, about the development of wind farms of the magnitude proposed in the midlands, amounting to some 2,500 turbines across a swathe of counties Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, Kildare and Roscommon. One wind farm has been proposed for an area that is not even in the designated area. This is inappropriate and undermines people's confidence in the planning process. The area is Kildangan in south County Kildare, home to one of the country's-----

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Was that approved for planning?

John Whelan (Labour)
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No. It is in process.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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It is not undermining the planning process if it has not already been adjudicated upon.

John Whelan (Labour)
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I respect that. However, it is inappropriate for wind farm developers to seek permission in areas that are not zoned for wind energy.

Public health issues should be strongly embedded in the new guidelines. While it is important that we take into account issues such as the environment, biodiversity, livestock and bloodstock, surely the health of families must be foremost in our considerations. I look forward to the publication of the draft guidelines, at which point we will examine them further and receive the input of all stakeholders.