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Dáil
‹ An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

Wind farm planning guidelines

Summary

Pat Casey criticised an approval for a wind farm in south Wicklow under outdated guidelines and said new climate-related planning rules were overdue. The Minister of State said updated guidelines were expected within weeks and would go to public consultation.

The programme for Government includes reference to climate change. A controversial decision was taken by An Bord Pleanála to grant planning permission for a large-scale wind farm on the iconic hills around Aughrim. In making the decision, the board used what we all agree to be the outdated wind energy guidelines that go back to 2006 and ignored the views and concerns of the people of south Wicklow, the county development plan and the fact that Wicklow had already refused this on two occasions. The decisions could have been so different for the people of south Wicklow if the Government had kept its promise to issue new wind energy guidelines in quarter 1 of 2018, as promised in June 2017. Where are the promised guidelines?

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I understand they will be published in the next couple of weeks. As the Deputy knows, they were held back in October due to changes at European level. The idea is that they will be the most up-to-date guidelines. It is hoped they will be published for an eight-week public consultation in the next two or three weeks. They have been slightly delayed because of legislation to do with Brexit, but they are more or less ready and will be out to be viewed.

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