I have a question for the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, regarding school transport. I ask if he could help address a crisis that has developed in Limerick and most likely in other parts of the country. I met a group of the school transport service providers recently. They are facing a crisis in the context of two issues. One relates to the recruitment and, in particular, the retention of drivers. The second issue is the upper age limit of 70 applies. I have been informed that this is enforced by Bus Éireann. We need to move into the modern era and review that age limit. If a person is able-bodied, willing and qualified to drive at 69 years of age, he or she should also be able to drive at the age of 70, 71 or 72 as long as he or she is physically capable and qualified. The bus transport company operators informed me that retaining drivers is a major issue. Another issue is that the vetting approval cannot be transferred in circumstances where a driver moves from one bus company to another. Will the Minister of State address these issues?

The school transport scheme is complicated and complex in the sense that thousands of vehicles are used to transport 117,000 children - 12,000 of whom have special needs - twice a day throughout the country and that 100 million km are covered in doing so. The transport of that number of children, some in buses and some in taxis, can be difficult.

We are consistently having difficulty in securing appropriate and sufficient vehicles. We have been quite successful up to now. The 70 year matter is not an issue that the Government can interfere with. It has been brought to my attention and I have been speaking to the Department about expanding that. I am not sure if it is in my remit to decide how old the driver of a vehicle can be. It is in my remit to make sure that the transport scheme operates efficiently and that every eligible child and child with special needs is carried on that scheme. I will come back to the Deputy regarding the matter.

I will quote a press release that the Taoiseach's Cabinet colleague, Deputy Coveney, issued on 13 June 2017 relating to wind energy guidelines:

I envisage following the completion of the SEA process, the new statutory Guidelines will be finalized and issue to planning authorities in Q1 2018

In the first quarter of 2018, every planning authority in the country was to have the new revised wind energy guidelines. Some 12 months on, there has been no further word to local authorities. Renewable energy is essential if we are going to address our climate change obligations. I realise that it is not the Government's top priority but it is an important issue. We must embrace it and address it but it must be done in a sustainable manner which does not impinge on our communities. Our communities want new, updated guidelines, which have been long overdue and promised. When can we see those guidelines implemented? In advance of the guidelines being implemented, is it possible that a moratorium will be put in place on any new applications until such a time as we have new, robust guidelines in place?

I thank the Deputy for the question. This is a priority for the Government. As I informed the House two weeks ago, over the course of 2018 the World Health Organization changed its guidelines relating to noise from wind turbines. As a result, the EU changed its directives in October last year.

If they had been published when the Government said they would be-----

We decided it was prudent to take cognisance of the change in the directive from the EU before we went to public consultation. We will go out to public consultation within the next two weeks. It will be a short public consultation but as we go out to public consultation for the draft guidelines, we will expect planning authorities to take cognisance of them in the decisions that they make.