An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-07
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Garret Ahearn (FG), Administrative Panel

He mentioned a really good point in terms of financial support and the role Tidy Towns played in fundraising but a lot of renewable energy companies invest in local communities where they have wind farms to support them. This is a prime example. More should be highlighted. The companies do it themselves but I am not sure they highlight it enough. I know of a Cork company that has wind farms in Tipperary. It invests in local communities but does not highlight it too much. It is a significant amount of money for the likes of the communities the Senator spoke about. As he requested, we will have a debate on it after the summer. It is important. We set up the Department of rural affairs which has been a real success in terms capital funding. It is all well and good having capital funding but when you cannot maintain it afterwards, that is a real issue. We now need to look at how we can make sure operational costs can be supported whether through the council or the Department. There is no point in putting capital funding into something that will then have to close five or ten years later because operational costs are too high. We will try to have a debate on that when we come back.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-07/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:09+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-07