I support a call made in the other House by Deputy Willie Penrose that the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government impose an immediate moratorium on all planning or development of further wind farms until such time as the Government and Department conclude the review into the guidelines for the development of these massive wind farms. Proposals have been made for 2,500 giant turbines across large tranches of the midlands. I commend the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, and the Minister of State at this Department, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, for initiating a review of the guidelines because the current guidelines are out of date, ineffective and obsolete.

This is a national, rather than local issue, which is of concern in many counties, including Galway, Clare, Westmeath, Laois, Offaly and Kildare. There is a view, which is not without foundation, among the communities concerned that big wind, if one likes, has the ear of government and that the Government is acting to some extent as a front of house salesperson promoting the interests of commercial wind farms. This approach is dangerous and wrong. The community and national interest must be embedded in policy. I call on the Government to step back from what appears in some quarters to be a cosy relationship with elements of the private companies that are promoting massive wind farms. There are genuine concerns about the scale, social impact and sustainability of existing developments as well as the setback requirements. The idea of proper and meaningful consultation is a farce given that the wind companies are doing secret deals with landowners behind the backs of their neighbours and no one knows precisely what is happening. Wind farm promoters state they will connect to the national grid by underground means, whereas EirGrid maintains that undergrounding is not feasible or possible. Someone is telling a porkie.

Is the Deputy seeking a debate on this issue?

The Seanad should have a debate and discourse with the Minister or Minister of State to allow Senators to feed into the policy directive on the control of and guidance pertaining to the development of new wind farms. Community interests and concerns are not being adequately taken into account and must be considered.

Bheinn ag tacú leis an méid atá ráite ag an Seanadóir a chuaigh romham, ach dhéanfaí dearmad uaireanta go bhfuil sé i bPáirtí an Lucht Oibre agus gur cheart don Aire féin, an Teachta Rabbitte, teacht isteach agus é a fhreagairt maidir leis na ceisteanna sin.

It is appropriate that all eyes were on Rome yesterday and I welcome the election of Pope Francis. I hope he will be successful in his position and that we will see a more open and tolerant church under his reign. Some of the events in this country yesterday would remind one of Roman times.

I am thinking of the Colosseum which I visited recently and that yesterday's proposal on mortgages is almost akin to throwing innocent mortgage holders to the banking lions, with the Government just watching the whole process. As said previously, there are 195,000 mortgage holders in distress. We have been waiting for a long time for action from the Government on the issue. The previous Government was also very slow to act. It received two expert group reports and did nothing to alleviate the plight of mortgage holders. The members of that Government are now jumping up and down looking for support for people in distress. The current Government is giving more power to the banks and giving them the ability to hassle people in arrears and to move people off tracker mortgages. It is opening the door for repossessions. This is an awful day for mortgage holders and a terrible indictment of the Government.

We should have been hearing about a non-judicial, independent mortgage resolution body with power to impose resolution agreements on lenders and borrowers. This body should have had a full range of solutions available to it, including debt write-down. The first priority should have been to protect the family home by restructuring mortgages in a way that makes them sustainable in the longer term. However, we have seen that the power has been handed over to the banks. The banks are in the driving seat once more. The big lobby has won over and it is an absolute disgrace on the part of the Government. I call on the Minister to come to the House as soon as possible so we can debate the so-called resolution mechanism that has been proposed. It is an absolute disgrace attributable to the Government and the people who support it, in addition to the banking system, which is obviously pushing very hard to mind its own vested interests. It is a very bad day for citizens.