Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-20
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Joanne Collins (SF), Agricultural Panel

I raise a couple of concerns I have about this Bill, particularly the designation of energy projects, including onshore wind development, as critical infrastructure. While nobody disputes the importance of energy security, renewable generation and meeting our climate obligations, there is a serious question as to whether this legislation risks undermining established planning safeguards and the meaning of public consultation. The definition of infrastructure in section 1 is extremely broad and explicitly includes energy generation, transmission and distribution systems. Onshore wind projects could fall within the scope of this Bill. Under section 3, the Government may designate projects as critical infrastructure where delay or disruption may have economic or social consequences for the State. That threshold is vague and potentially very expensive. It appears entirely possible that large-scale wind energy projects could be designated under these provisions. My concern is not with renewable wind energy or renewable energy itself. My concern is whether the designated process could create a two-tier system, one for ordinary developments and another for projects deemed politically or strategically important.
These concerns are compounded by the Government's continuing failure to update and publish the revised wind energy development guidelines despite repeated commitments over many years. Communities are still relying on guidelines dating back to 2006 despite enormous changes in turbine heights, scale and technology, and the cumulative impact of wind energy projects since then. It is difficult to ask rural communities to accept accelerated planning processes for projects designated as critical infrastructure when the State has failed to provide the up-to-date national guidelines governing setback distances, noise, shadow flicker, cumulative impacts and community protections. The Government cannot on the one hand argue that onshore wind energy is so strategically important that projects warrant a fast-tracked treatment while on the other hand refuse and fail over many years to publish the modernised wind energy guidelines that would provide certainty, transparency and public confidence.
Communities across rural Ireland already feel excluded from decisions relating to large-scale onshore wind developments, transmission infrastructure and grid expansion. Public consultation cannot be a box-ticking exercise. Local residents must retain confidence that environmental assessments, biodiversity protections, landscape considerations and community participation remain genuine and meaningful. If the onshore wind developments are to be designated as critical infrastructure then I ask that the Government clearly outlines what criteria will apply, what safeguards remain for communities, how consultation rights will be protected, why the updated guidelines still have not been published and how planning independence will be preserved. This is very close to my heart. There are two wind developments in County Limerick that are with An Coimisiún Pleanála, and from what I hear there are another six proposed over the next couple of months. There is an awful lot of stress within County Limerick for the residents that it will become just one big wind farm at the end of this.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-20/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:58+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-20