Brian Stanley warns of 'scandalous' gap in wind turbine planning

They're asking the point of order where the two Ministers are, the Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Planning and Local Government. Minister of Planning and Local Government, James Brown, and Minister Derek Leary, the Minister for the Environment. Neither of them are in the Chamber. That's no disrespect to Minister Smith, who I know is here and she's feeling a lot of issues here. But I think it's disrespectful of the Chamber that neither of them are here on an issue so important as this. But this is where we're at. I want to express that. The absence of guidelines or regulations for wind turbines is absolutely scandalous. And this Bill is not about stopping wind turbines. It's about having the planning system in place for the regime. The 2006 guidelines have been acknowledged, both by Government and Opposition, that are outdated. And they've been outdated now for more than a decade and a half. The Bill is not always stopping the utilisation of wind energy, but as I said, to put a proper planning framework in place. Four Governments have come and gone. We're on the fifth Government, and I was just counting the number of Ministers. Six Ministers have come and gone, and still nothing. But yet we see these enormous industrial wind farms springing up, and particularly across the Midlands. There's been paralysis in Government buildings on this issue for over a decade. Thank you, Deputy. My apologies. It's my fault. You never moved the motion. Oh, sorry. You made the point of order. But it's my fault. Will it start again? I let you take off. Right. Will it start again? Would you please? Please. Yeah, okay. I moved the motion. Sorry. Very good. Thank you, Deputy. Apologies. Sorry. Right from the top. We're going from the top. Okay. Thank you. So the absence of guidelines, you know, it's absolutely a scandal. The fact that we're still relying on outdated 2006 guidelines, which are obsolete for over a decade and a half now. The Bill is about putting the proper planning framework in place. It's not about stopping utilization of wind, but it's about having wind turbines in the right place and at the right scale. Four governments have come and gone. We're on Government number five. No action. Paralysis. We've had paralysis in the Government building on this issue for over a decade, over a decade and a half. Michal Martin, here in the Dáil back in 2013, he says, was a full, a fundamental absence of transparency around the developments. The absence of consultation with local residents and communities was a scandal. Above all, the absence of a legislative framework to deal with the step change in technology and the scale of these developments. He cited concerns about the health impacts of shadow flicker and eyes and so on. And I could keep quoting his letter or his speech from that day. But that's what he said. That's what he said that day. So we're now in a situation where the replies that I'm getting here for 13 years are the very same. The most recent one I got was, my department is currently undertaking, this is the Minister, a focused review of the 2006 Wendy Energy Guidelines, a number of key issues. They're looking at a number of key issues, including the noise aspect of the guidelines, which is highly technical in nature. That's the same reply that I was getting that I'm getting over the last 12 years. Meanwhile, these giant turbines have sprung up all over the country, but particularly in the Midlands, and Leash and Offaly in particular, they cover huge tracts of land, and the scale of them has massively increased since the 2006 guidelines were put there. Turbines at that stage were 30-35 metres in height. There are now there are now multiples of that reaching 185 metres in height. Some are located only metres from rural homes. They're mainly owned and directed by large foreign investment funds, who are riding roughshod over local communities. Where they meet opposition, they will often bribe or try and bribe a section of the community and use their clout to browbeat the remainder of the community. They're taking advantage of the absence of regulations or even guidelines. But to behave as if it's the gold rush and grab the opportunity. Of course they're going to do that. There's a huge problem here for rural communities, and I mentioned Leash and Offaly in particular. At the moment, there's a huge number of wind turbines planned right across the South Leash and Kilkenny border. These turbines can be put up in close proximity. People have to pub with the noise, shadow flicker, and the sterilisation of surrounding lands, even their own lands, where a son and daughter, once these are erected, can't get planner permission to build on the family farm because of the proximity of turbines. Along with inaction from the Department, the Department of Local Government, all three of the largest parties have sat on their hands. Along with government being a state of paralysis, the largest opposition party hasn't moved on it either. Indeed, when I tried to introduce a similar bill back nearly five years ago now, which was time allocated and all, as I recall, of a Wednesday, but it was stopped at that time by the leader of that party. And I'm just hoping today that Sinn Féin are able to do better than that. I hope that you can support this bill. The reason I was told that time was the fear of media reaction. Now, the people elect is not the media, and that's who we need to represent. The Irish Wind Energy Association representing wealthy investors have done an excellent job. They are regularly in now with these buildings here. The propaganda is all persuasive until you dig deeper. And, you know, a lot of people seem to be taken in by it. But, of course, planning is a balance, and as I said at the outside, this isn't about stopping them. It's about having that balance in the planning system, which isn't there at the moment. Many constituents have asked me who exactly is in charge. And that's an interesting question. Wind energy is important, but we must utilize it along with other renewable sources. But the government have focused almost exclusively on wind. While it's a good source of clean energy, it's intermittent. And that can lead to surges on the grid, when there's plenty of wind, and turbines have to be shut down. And 10%, over 10% of electricity is unused. But it has to be paid for. And paid for in the form of billions. If you look at the figures here, over the last five years, what was paid? 263 million in 2021. Last year, 251 million. So, it's a sizable amount of money that's being paid out on these. So, little effort has been made to develop solar, anaerobic digestion, hydro, hydrogen, or offshore minister. These are only in their infancy, if at all. Some of them haven't even started. Regulation for solar wind energy, I know, is being drafted. And while that needs to be done, I'm asking what's happening in terms of wind turbines. At times, we were told that the delay in the guidelines or regulations is due to difficulty sorting out the appropriate level of noise to be allowed. But a decade and a half minister, a full decade and a half. And on ministers, on ministers, I remember debating this with Phil Hogan in this chamber, Alan Kelly, Dennis Nocton, Richard Bruton, Eamon Rhine, and now Dara O'Brien. Six ministers have come and gone. And around the fifth government. And still no guidelines. You couldn't excuse this. Wind Turbine Bill 2025 that I'm bringing forward here. And if people want to amend it, that's fine. I'm not saying it's exactly what we need. But there's a good bit of work on into it. And it certainly, I think, would put some shape on this and go a long ways towards it. So, if you look at Section 3 of the Bill, that deals with the location of wind turbines, that has to be consistent with local county development plans. And despite what ministers will say, that is not happening at the moment. Wind turbines are being put in areas that are not designated under the county development plan. Indeed, these companies are riding roughshod over the county development plans. And that has to be done with those plans, as you know, are made by democratically elected local councillors. And it's important that that local democracy is upheld. Section 4 of the Bill sets out in detail the need for public consultation. And it sets out a number of measures to be taken there. In terms of public notices, in terms of providing a non-technical assessment to be made available, the potential impact of the proposed construction on the host community, the measures to prevent and to reduce that effect, the length of time of the construction and the planning gain for the local community. So, Section 4 sets out in great detail that there must be greater consultation. Section 5 of the Bill deals with noise and shadow flicker. And this is really important, noise and shadow flicker, because we know this is a real problem. The noise and shadow flicker, at the moment, there are houses where the shadow flicker are passing over them. And this is unfair to residents. The Bill clearly sets out that they need to be located far enough away from dwellings, that that isn't happening, and to protect the residents. Section 6, any turbine over 30 metres in height can't be located not less than the distance of not less than 7.5 times the height of the turbine. That's really important that we actually set that down, because that isn't being complied with in any way at the moment. It's really important that that happens in relation to what's in Section 6. Section 7 of the Bill deals with transitional matters in terms of the duties of planning authorities, and it sets out their responsibilities, including on Commission Plan Ola. Section 8 sets out penalties that can be set by the Minister, and that's important. And the Minister is the Minister who would do that by way of statutory instrument in terms of setting the level of responsibility. Number 9 section of the Bill is that it must provide financial evidence in terms of being able to put up bonds, etc. 10 is responsibility for decommissioning. And very importantly, number 11 provides for co-ownership that wind turbine developers shall provide an opportunity for local residents to purchase up to a 10% stake in wind turbine developments as part of a community cooperative model of wind turbine. The initial development has to be offered to residents who live within a four-kilometre radius of the turbines. After that, they can be offered to people outside that. But that is really important that that happens. So it provides for a number of things to give people that that protection. And if we could just deal with the noise issue at the moment, there are WHO, World Health Organization guidelines there, and international best practice. But in 2000, and this is the crux of Minister, this is actually holding this up, in 2017, there was the launch of the preferred draft approach. And in 2020, the Government set a target that 40% of renewable energy would come from wind, and that is onshore wind. And that would seem doable, I think, very doable, and even probably more than that. In 2021, though, the Government doubled this to 80% of all renewable energy would come from onshore wind. That is not doable. And that required standing proper planning on its head. And that is what is happening. The casualty there has been the noise limits set by the World Health Organization, which have been shredded, because they could not be allowed to get in the way of totally unrealistic targets. And if we are in any doubt about it, we have a letter here from the HSE that sets it out very clearly to Minister Niall Collins on the 20th of November this year. That letter sets out very clearly what that means. I also have an exchange of letters from Mr Darrow O'Brien as Minister for Housing and the Local Government to the then Minister for the Environment, Minister Eamon Ryan. And in that letter of the 18th of November 2021, and I quote from it, these noise limits, thus the WHO ones, were agreed in the context of 2020 targets to generate 40% of electricity from renewable sources. As in so many other cases of public policy, the current context is fundamentally altered in the light of our ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 51%, which we all support, over the period of 2018-2020. To achieve this, the greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets we have through the National Development Plan set out a goal to generate 80% of our electricity from renewable sources. So because we have not developed the other sources, I mentioned earlier, we realise almost totally on onshore wind. So it says to achieve this target, the 2021 Climate Action Plan to set an indicative target of 8 gigawatts on onshore energy by 2030, this had to be doubled. And that's the crux of it. That's the crux of what's going on here. And so government and senior officials in the department have been hopping from one foot to the other for the last 14 or 15 years on it, but particularly in the last five years. And members of government, TDs on the government benches need to take this on board. You know, we have to make a decision on this, because when there is no guidelines there, never mind regulations, you know, these companies behave as if it's a gold rush. And if you have a situation where there's no system in place, it's anything goes. And what's there at the moment is as weak as dishwater. Don't let anybody ever tell you anything else. These companies, their solicitors, their planning experts, all the consultants they have hired, they are on top of this game. There's big money in this, there's big investment firms behind it. Board of Moana have been somewhat better, you know, some people maybe might dispute that, but have been somewhat better in taking the concerns of local communities into consideration. That's been my experience. Now, Cara, Deputy Nolan might have a different experience in Offaly, where there's some maybe that you weren't happy with, but generally to work better with local communities. So the bill, this is what we need to do. And if we haven't got legislation, we need to put a moratorium on developments until we do have proper legislation in place, and proper regulations and guidelines in place, Minister. And I appeal to you, and appeal to the government to grasp this once and for all, and stop chasing something that you can't do, providing 80% of renewable energy through onshore wind. We need to bring on solar, hydrogen, and all of the other, all of the other methods that can be used, anaerobic digestion. You won't do it unless you're going to get the backs up of local communities right across the country, including Cavan, where you live. Okay. Thank you, Deputy Stanley. Everyone that's in the chamber, just to note, I know Deputy Nolan, you're trying to get my attention there. I was trying to respond to you to say you're on the list. I have a list here in front of me. Oh, hang on, here we go. So we have number one on the list here that I have is Deputy Peter Chapclere. Deputy Minister Smith. Do I open with an amendment? Can you move your amendment? I move amendment one. Thank you. To delete all words after that, and substitute the following. Thalerne resolves the Wind Turbine Regulation Bill 2025 to be deemed to be read a second time this day 12 months, so as to allow sufficient time for full consideration of the Bill and for the development of Government proposals before the end of 2026, specifically the finalisation of the National Plan Statement on Wind Energy. Cancorla, I would firstly like to thank Deputy Stanley for bringing forward this Private Members' Bill regarding the regulation of wind turbines. You spoke with passion and a real depth of understanding to the topic itself. This Bill is no doubt well intended and aims to regulate wind energy development by addressing a number of key issues. However, I am this evening proposing a timing amendment as I believe that many of the matters raised in this Bill would be better addressed as part of an ongoing review of the existing 2006 Wind Energy Development Guidelines and our intention to publish a national planning statement on wind energy as part of that process. I am concerned that key provisions set out in the Bill are inconsistent with the State's energy security objectives, climate obligations and the commitment in the Programme for Government to accelerating the delivery of renewable electricity. Firstly, it is necessary to set out the wider context of the issue, which many deputies here will be more than aware of. The Programme for Government has reaffirmed Ireland's targets of 80% of electricity demand to be met by renewables in the near future, with plans to move to a net zero by 2050. The speedy deployment of renewable electricity is our energy insurance policy and the foundation for Ireland's transition to a low-carbon sustainable economy. The accelerated delivery of infrastructure is a major Government priority and our renewable energy program is central to that. With regards to the role of wind, we have a target of 9 GW installed capacity provided for in both the Climate Action Plan and the National Planning Framework to be achieved by 2030. Ireland are world leaders in the deployment of wind energy and its integration into our grid and continued delivery of wind energy, both onshore and offshore, is essential to safeguarding energy security and supply affordable energy to our homes and to businesses. Through the Accelerated Renewable Electricity Task Force and the Offshore Wind Delivery Task Force, Government is committed to a strong delivery program for onshore and offshore renewables and supporting infrastructure to ensure there is a clean and flexible energy supply that keeps pace with economic growth and meets growing demands for electricity from new homes and the electrification of heat and transport and from large energy users. We are committed to the continued sustainable deployment of onshore wind across our region in line with the allocations set out in the National Planning Framework and supported by strong community engagement, community benefits and planning guidance through a National Planning Statement. I will explain the planning context more fully in a moment. As Deputy Stanley and many members of the House will be aware, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is currently undertaking a focused review of the 2006 Wind Energy Guidelines, which will inform a new National Planning Statement under the new Planning and Development Act 2024. The review is addressing a number of key aspects of the guidelines, including setback distance as well as its relation to noise, shadow, flicker, community obligation, community dividend and grid connections. The aim of the review is to strike an appropriate balance between addressing the concerns of local communities by ensuring that it is greater and earlier and community engagement by wind energy developers whilst maintaining Ireland's ability to deliver on its binding climate and renewable energy policy obligations. With the review of the guidelines has been ongoing for a number of years now, which you eloquently outlined too Deputy Stanley, significant progress has been made towards concluding the review process. Chapters 1 of Part 3 of the Planning and Development Act of 2024 came into effect on October 2, 2025, which provided the statutory basis for the National Planning Framework and Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies and introduced provisions for the NPS. The National Planning Statement replaced Section 28 Planning Guidelines, which the previous Wind Energy Guidelines issued. Therefore, the revised Wind Wind Guidelines, once finalised, will be issued as a National Planning Statement under the 2024 Act. Further to this, in light of the evolving policy and legislative framework, there is a need to ensure that the National Planning Statement is a fit for purpose whilst having appropriate regard to the impacts of wind energy development, including in relation to matters raised by Deputy Stanley's bill. Since the conclusion of the public consultation in February 2020, work on the technical noise elements of the revised guidelines has caused a delay in their finalisation. Ongoing work in relation to the noise elements of the draft guidelines has necessitated a substantial rewrite of the noise guidance issued for public consultation to both simplify the approach and present it in a manner that is more easily understood and implemented by developers and planning authorities. In this connection, the Department with the Department of Climate, the Department of Housing, I should say, in connection with the Department of Climate, Energy and Environment and in the context of its environmental noise and climate and renewable energy policy remiss has been working to advance guidance on the noise aspects of the guidelines, which is highly technical in nature. This work is substantially completed. In addition to the work on the noise aspect of the draft National Planning Statement, the changing and continuously evolving policy and technical context, including the Act of 2024 and the revision of the NPF reinforces the need to ensure that the finalised guidelines once issued are fit for purpose. Both of these contain important changes that wind policy must be cognizant of, as well as European regulations, such as the Renewable Energies Directive and other environmental considerations. Work is underway to formulate wind guidelines into a draft National Planning Statement, which will then be environmentally assessed and will be informed by a public consultation which will inform the final version submitted to Government for approval and implementation across the tiers of the planning system. It is an imperative, robust, up-to-date policy and up-to-date policy which will take account of the evolving policy and legislative context of the technology process of the past decades and of the informed decisions of stakeholders and the public itself. In conclusion, Ireland currently has over five GW onshore wind generations with a target of nine GW provided for in the Climate Action Plan and National Planning Framework by 2030. Meeting our national targets for wind energy will require further integration of renewable technologies in an appropriate manner and in full consultation with local communities. The forthcoming NPS will provide the processes and policies that are provided for appropriate regulation of new wind energy development proposals, as well as compliance with existing and future national, EU and international renewable energy policies and targets. Thank you.