Renewable Energy Generation
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-11
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Darragh O'Brien (FF), Dublin Fingal East

To be fair, on the Deputy's first point, that is acknowledged by what was then An Bord Pleanála and is now An Coimisiún Pleanála. Certainly, those were the first type of projects that they ever had to deal with. I agree there are learnings and they have learnt from them. Second, the planning environment is different now. New applications will come under the Planning and Development Act 2024, which sets strict timelines on planning decisions and sets timelines around requests for further information and how often further information can be requested. In short, that will improve the situation.
In relation to resources, I can tell the Deputy, given my previous portfolio, that we have increased resources in An Coimisiún Pleanála by over 50% and we have restructured an coimisiún. An coimisiún is meeting approximately 90% of its targets. I commend the officials on the work they are doing. The decisions are coming out quicker and more efficiently.
The Deputy made a very fair point. These were large projects that had not been seen in the planning system previously. The learnings from them have been acknowledged. With the new planning Act, I expect that planning for new offshore wind projects will go through much quicker and much more efficiently.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-11