1927. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he intends to review or update national planning guidance to ensure that multi-site renewable energy proposals cannot be artificially separated into individual applications in a manner that risks undermining full cumulative assessment or facilitating project splitting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63561/26]

1928. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether, under Irish planning law and the EIA Directive, wind energy developments that share enabling infrastructure such as substations, loop-in grid connections or co-ordinated peatland access routes must be treated as a single project for the purposes of environmental impact assessment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63559/26]

1929. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has issued guidance to planning authorities or An Coimisiún Pleanála regarding the need for cumulative environmental assessment where multiple wind farm proposals form part of a co-ordinated peatland renewable energy strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63558/26]

1930. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps his Department has taken to ensure that planning authorities and An Coimisiún Pleanála fully comply with the requirements of the EIA Directive and relevant CJEU case law in relation to the assessment of functionally interdependent renewable energy projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63557/26]

1931. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is satisfied that current national guidance on environmental impact assessment adequately addresses the issue of project splitting, particularly in circumstances where multiple wind energy developments are being advanced by the same developers, in close proximity, and reliant on shared grid or peatland infrastructure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63556/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930 and 1931 together.

Assessing cumulative impacts is an important feature of environmental impact assessment. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is the process of examining the anticipated environmental effects of a proposed project. It commences with consideration of environmental effects at design stage, through consultation and preparation of an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR), evaluation of the EIAR by a competent authority and the subsequent decision as to whether the project should be permitted to proceed. Under European and national legislation a project must consider cumulative effects as part of an EIAR and they are defined as the interaction between various impacts within a single project and the interaction between all of the different existing and/or approved projects in an area.

When an application for a wind energy development is subject to environmental assessment this includes an assessment of cumulative effects. An environmental impact assessment report (EIAR) is always required when a proposed wind energy development has a total output of more than five megawatts or contains more than five turbines. However, it is not necessarily the case that a smaller project or projects, referred to as "sub-threshold", would not be environmentally assessed. The relevant planning authority must determine if the proposed sub threshold project is likely to have a significant impact on the environment. As part of this process, known as screening, the cumulative impact of the proposed development with other existing or proposed projects is considered when establishing if a full environmental impact assessment is required.

With regards to peatlands and wind energy, the current Wind Energy Development Guidelines contain a section, Appendix 4 Best Practice for Wind Energy Development in Peatlands, which provides guidance to developers on this matter.