TD calls for pause on all new wind energy developments
A TD has called on the government to pause all new wind energy developments until revised guidelines on wind energy development are published.
Independent Offaly TD Carol Nolan was speaking ahead of a protest today (Monday, July 21) by the Lemanaghan Bog Heritage and Conservation Group, which is due to be held outside the offices of Offaly County Council.
This group has long expressed opposition to the proposed Lemanaghan Wind Farm on the bog of the same name in the county.
Nolan has supported the group's campaign for the preservation of the bog, and has voiced opposition to the development of wind turbines at the site, which she said is "of key archaeological and historical significance".
She said: "The fact that the 2006 Wind Energy Development Guidelines remain in force, pending the finalisation of the review which has been ongoing [since] 2016, is nothing short of farcical."
The TD also claimed that the delay in finalising these guidelines are "borderline contemptuous of communities who have clearly expressed the gross inadequacies of the current regulatory regime".
"That is why I am calling for a halt to all wind energy and wind turbine developments until we have sight of the new guidelines. It is simply not acceptable that turbine developments can still get the green light under a system that everyone accepts is not fit for purpose," Nolan said.
"I have raised this matter repeatedly through parliamentary questions, most recently to the Minister [for Climate, Energy and the Environment] Darragh O'Brien, when I asked him if he would provide information regarding reports on wind turbine noise.
"I also called on him to clarify his support for increased protections for persons adversely affected by wind turbine noises," Nolan added.
The TD claimed that the minister told her the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not commissioned any wind turbine modelling reports, and that the only report the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has published on the issue of wind turbine noise was published back in 2013.
"Everything at government level about wind and wind turbines appears to be shrouded in delay and an attitude of keeping communities at a distance," Nolan said.
"That is not acceptable for Lemanaghan, for Offaly, or for anywhere else for that matter.
"That is why I am calling for a pause in all developments until communities know what exactly we are dealing with in terms of the new regulatory model that the revised guidelines will adopt," the TD added.
