Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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263. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if a proposed wind farm development which has been refused a grant of planning permission can qualify for the REFIT 2 scheme in respect of a new planning application yet to be lodged, if the previous refused application for planning was lodged before the deadline of December 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17392/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The closing date for all applications to the current REFIT 2 Scheme was the 31 December 2015. Under the Terms and Conditions of the REFIT 2 scheme and the REFIT clarification notice that issued in November 2015 on my Department’s website ,applicants seeking support were required to have obtained full planning permission for the project, or have provided evidence from the relevant planning authority to verify that the REFIT applicant had applied for planning permission for that project before the REFIT closing date.

The sole purpose of the clarification notice was to provide a degree of flexibility to applicants that had already applied for planning permission for a specific project before the deadline of 31 December, 2015, but were unlikely to receive a final planning decision for that project by the relevant authorities before the closing date.

For any applicant in this situation, the submission of evidence of full planning permission for that project (by 31 December 2016) would be deemed to be additional information for the purpose of Condition 10.6 as per the clarification notice. Clause 10.6 of the REFIT Terms and Conditions refers to 'required additional information or documentation for the same project in order for it to be deemed a compliant application'.