‘Why does it take so long?’: Kilkenny TD criticises years-long wait for important legislation

Fianna Fáil TD for Carlow/Kilkenny and Leas-Cheann Comhairle, John McGuinness, has called for updated legislation on the construction of wind farms in the Dáil this week, something long pushed for by groups in communities where construction is taking place.

The Wind Turbine Regulation Bill 2025 is in the early stages of making its way through the houses of the Oireachtas, but groups have urged speedier action as contentious developments in Ballyfasy and Seskin move forward.

“I wonder about the regulations we have been promised for wind farms”, Deputy McGuinness said. “If we go back to 2013, they were debated in the House but we still have not received them”.

“Why does it take so long to bring forward regulation or legislation that will govern development like this, not to stop or hold them up, but to regulate them and acknowledge the rights of the communities they are affecting?”

“In my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny and the neighbouring constituency of Laois, huge wind farms are being constructed. I visited a number of these recently and I have to say, a lot of them, in their numbers, are a blight on the landscape. Yet, we have no input”, he added.

READ NEXT: ‘Thirty-two jobs in the world for what I’m looking at’: Kicker with Kilkenny roots aiming for NFL - Kilkenny Live

The tension between residents and wind farm developments has been reflected in the large turnouts to public meetings such as one attended by over 100 people at Glenmore Community Centre on the Ballyfasy project this week.

“We want the regulation to make a level field for those who are applying for the wind farms and those who want to protect their homes, lives and communities from the negative side of the turbines”, Deputy McGuinness outlined.

“We talk about it here and, quite frankly, the Government has been very slow in acknowledging the difficulties communities have all over the country. The lack of regulation is actually driving a wedge in local communities between those who own land and want to develop it for wind farms and those who simply want no wind farms or want an input into where they are going”.

“It is fair to ask that. You are not stopping it but, rather, asking for the regulation which has been promised since 2013 to be dealt with,” he continued.

Concluding, Deputy McGuinness criticised the recycled responses received when TDs enquired about the status of new legislation and the problems this lack of information causes them.

“This brings us again to the parliamentary questions we ask here, whether they are about this piece of legislation or that regulation. You just get the same tripe set out in replies to parliamentary questions.”

“The same bluff is expressed but the real issue is not dealt with. It creates a deal of anger and frustration for Members to not be able to have those issues addressed”.

TAP HERE FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme