Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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182. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will address the concerns raised in correspondence (details supplied) regarding wind developments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12262/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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In December 2013, my Department published proposed “draft” revisions to the noise, setback distance and shadow flicker aspects of the 2006 Wind Energy Development Guidelines. These draft revisions proposed:

-The setting of a more stringent day and night noise limit of 40 decibels for future wind energy developments,

-A mandatory minimum setback distance of 500 metres between a wind turbine and the nearest dwelling for amenity considerations, and

-The complete elimination of shadow flicker between wind turbines and neighbouring dwellings.

A public consultation process was initiated on these proposed draft revisions to the Guidelines, which ran until February 21 2014. My Department received submissions from 7,500 organisations and members of the public during this period. It is intended that the revisions to the 2006 Wind Energy Development Guidelines will be finalised as soon as possible. In this regard, account has to be taken of the extensive response to the public consultation in framing the final guidelines. Further work is also advancing to develop technical appendices to assist planning authorities with the practical application of the noise measurement aspects of the Wind Guidelines.

The revisions to the Wind Energy Development Guidelines 2006, when finalised, will be issued under Section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended. Planning authorities, and, where applicable, An Bord Pleanála must have regard to guidelines issued under Section 28 in the performance of their functions under the Planning Acts.

My Department wrote to the Department of Health in September 2013 inviting them toinput into the review of the Wind Energy Development Guidelines. Preliminary feedback was received from a Deputy Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Department of Health on 11th November 2013, which indicated that wind turbines do not represent a threat to public health. This feedback was based on a 2009 literature review conducted by the Australian Government's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

The Deputy CMO subsequently wrote to my Department on 11th April 2014 to advise that Australia's NHMRC had recently updated its evidence in relation to this matter. In that letter, the Deputy CMO stated that “this review again supports previous advice that there is no reliable or consistent evidence that wind farms directly cause adverse health effects in humans”. The Deputy CMO also referred to the limited number of peer reviewed articles and research in this area and that Australia's NHMRC may recommend further high quality research.

Australia's NHMRC released a statement on 11th February 2015 stating that “after careful consideration and deliberation of the body of evidence, NHMRC concludes that there is currently no consistent evidence that wind farms cause adverse health effects in humans”.

My Department will continue to liaise with the Department of Health, particularly in relation to the findings of any further international peer reviewed research on this subject. The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, as the lead policy Department in relation to renewable energy (including wind energy), has also been made aware of this ongoing dialogue in the context of the implementation of its renewable energy policy.