Cabinet Committees
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-19
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Tony McCormack (FF), Offaly

There is growing concern about the proposed approach to the new renewable energy targets to be set by the Office of the Planning Regulator, which, in turn, has passed this job to the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly, EMRA. These concerns extend to the possibility that the counties that have done the most could, effectively, be reset to zero, regardless of the progress already made. Offaly County Council was brave in 2009 to create a renewable energy policy in its development plan. Groups that have met with EMRA have raised concerns with me that existing renewable energy production may not be properly recognised. In the interests of fairness, counties like Offaly, which despite its small size, is already one of the leading producers of renewable energy in Ireland, should have their contributions to date fully taken into account. We will take more developments, but we cannot be treated in the same way as counties that have done very little or nothing up to this point. I am asking for the Taoiseach’s support with this.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-19