Justin Moran

If you look at wind farms at the moment,

Last year, I think about 14% of the electricity we could have produced was lost because the electricity grid wasn't strong enough to accommodate that.

We need to strengthen the electricity grid, not just to accommodate renewables, but to attract investment into counties like Leitrim, into places in the North West that badly need to attract that kind of investment.

So I think it's those kind of critical grid infrastructure projects that will be targeted in this legislation.

Well, I don't want to speak for the people who are developing the wind farm.

There would be a community benefit fund that would go along with this.

There would be other sources of investment.

And I think if you look at the economic benefits that we've already seen for the county of Leitrim from the development of wind farms, almost 20% of all of commercial rates in Leitrim are being paid by wind farms.

That's when firms who are paying to keep libraries open, that's when firms are paying to repair local roads, to support social housing, to support local businesses.

There's also money going in there in terms of local community benefit funds and there's employment opportunities that will come from the development of this infrastructure.

So there's an economic benefit here as well.

But I think with respect, Darren, it's not just being emotive, it's being factual.

And I mean, if you look at the experience of communities living near wind farms, the SCA carried out a report in 2023.

They spoke to people living within one kilometre of existing wind farms.

These aren't planned, proposed or developed wind farms.

These are existing wind farms operating in Ireland today.

And they asked these people...

do you want more wind farms in Ireland?

And two thirds of them said, yes, they want more wind farms in this country.

So I think that's the lived experience of people who are living near this infrastructure who've had positive experiences.