*The matter was debated before the July meeting of Clare County Council.
ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE have said they are “hamstrung” and left in “no man’s land” due to “outdated” guidelines relating to wind farm developments.
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien (FF) has been called on to outline when he intends to publish updated Wind Energy Guidelines by elected members of Clare County Council.
It follows a strongly supported motion by Cllr Cillian Murphy (FF) who explained that he tabled the request “given the very difficult situations facing many local communities due to the absence of updated guidelines that are of relevance for proposed new wind farm developments”.
In May 2021, Cllr Murphy also highlighted the matter in the Council Chamber. He said it “utterly inexcusable” no progress had been made in the interval and labelled it an “abysmal failure of national Government”.
Speaking at the July meeting of the Council, the tourism consultant said councillors were unable to do what they were given a mandate to under the planning act. “All communities are suffering, elected representatives and staff in the planning department suffer too, developers are also suffering”.
Urgency must be applied in reviewing and ratifying the guidelines in order to “de-risk” the process, he maintained. “We are hamstrung operating under a set of guidelines that are outdated,” Murphy remarked.
Frustration was also voiced by Cllr Pat Hayes (FF), “We’re in no man’s land and we’re called to public meetings having to debate this with a lack of clear guidance, we don’t know and we’re prohibited from the County Development Plan this time and the last time from making amendments in any previous form, this is deplorable and abysmal”.
Shannon based, Cllr Donna McGettigan (SF) agreed the guidelines were outdated, “it is not fair to expect people to put up with the noise or shadow flicker”. Cllr PJ Ryan (IND) added, “It has created an awful lot of problems for councillors, we need clarification and the sooner we get it the better”.
Planning is completely lacking around the whole process, Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND) lamented. “It seems that some communities are being sacrificed for the greater good in the interest of climate change, there are lots of areas in Clare that are isolated and accommodate wind farms, these areas need to be identified, under the current policy you can place a windfarm within one kilometre of town centres and in the process destroy the enjoyment of homes”.
Implications were highlight by Cllr Joe Killeen (FF) with Cllr Pat McMahon (FF), Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) and Cllr Pat O’Gorman (FF) all lending their support. “Green energy phenomena is the new buzzword,” remarked Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF) while Cllr Michael Begley (IND) said the Council “need to make strong representations to get these guidelines published”.
Concluding the debate, Cllr Murphy stated, “We may not like what comes out of the set of guidelines but at least everyone will know what we’re playing with”. Prior engagement on such projects has been “very poor,” he opined, “I believe an awful lot of projects would get across the line if developers discussed with communities rather than arriving trying to defend, these projects happen to a community, they don’t happen with them”.
