SINN Féin senator Joanne Collins wants to see action on Shannon Foynes Port Company’s strategy and plan for offshore wind generation in the Shannon Estuary.
Senator Collins raised the issue of wind farms, most particularly in County Limerick, in the Seanad, mentioning Coolcappagh and the Bruff–Dromin–Athlacca action groups – who are both in the process of putting in submissions to stop wind farms being erected in their areas.
According to the County Limerick senator, there has been very little consultation with the communities on these wind farms, which she claims are “dividing communities”.
“A landowner may be willing to give up their land for a massive wind farm near a community that does not want it. There are arguments at school gates and people not turning up for kids’ parties because there is a complete divide in the community,” Senator Collins told the Upper House.
She went on to praise Shannon Foynes Port Company’s “amazing” plan for offshore wind generation in the estuary, which she said would generate electricity for the entire island of Ireland and make Ireland a huge exporter of energy at the same time.
“If we could have the designated maritime area plans for this produced as soon as possible, it would mean the communities would not be fighting among themselves because of the massive wind farms proposed,” Senator Collins said.
“It is not just about where wind farms go, but about future planning applications in the relevant areas. Rural Ireland will be decimated if we keep putting wind farms in areas where planning permission could be sought in the future.
“If a wind farm goes in and, two or three years down the line, people want to get planning permission to build on their parents’ land, they will now be too close to a windmill and will not get permission. It will completely turn people off living in rural Ireland.”
Senator Collins said she wants to see the report that was done and the new guidelines the government has been sitting on “for what feels like years”.
“We need to see the new guidelines and have them published for the public and developers to see, because if a developer puts in these 158-metre turbines and the new guidelines say they cannot be that high, no developer will pull them out to put in new ones”.