Ms Agnes Doolan:

I take issue with his portrayal of good communication. The communities of Taylor's Cross and Garbally were not informed by Element Power that it planned to build a wind farm there; they were told by me. After seeing the map I telephoned a few people in the area and then decided I had better tell all of them. I made out an information sheet and headed into the area, which is quiet and rural. I went door to door and braved a vicious dog or two. Most of the people in the area had never heard of the export project.
I also take issue with the Government. In January I noticed the agreed memorandum of understanding signed by the Minister, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, but many people in the population had not noticed it. Many people do not read newspapers or press statements issued from the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. When I told the people of Garbally that they were to get a wind farm, most of them knew very little about it. That is how the communities of Garbally and Taylor's Cross learned about the wind farm.
When Offaly County Council drew up a good wind strategy document in 2009, it designated certain areas as suitable for wind farms. I have problems with why it decided this. It stated the areas south and east of Kilcormac were not suitable for wind energy project development, having regard to the higher density of housing, the proximity to areas of high amenity and the likely effect on views to and from such areas. Element Power has since moved into the Kilcormac area and signed options with farmers there. The Kilcormac community, like the community in Garbally and Taylor's Cross, now finds itself facing an application for a wind farm in the area. Like many communities in the midlands, we are in a David versus Goliath situation. We must fundraise to hire planners and consultants to face the huge financial resources of Element Power and Mainstream Renewable Power. It is very unfair and one-sided and people are under great stress. There is not much money in the county. We have set up a committee in the Banagher-Garbally area, some members of which are going door to door to try to get people to contribute to a fund to protect us.
I wish to quote a short statement from one of the residents of Garbally, an English man, Mr. David Bacon, who happens to be married to a local lady. He states he represents the Banagher and Garbally wind information group and outlines its experience of renewable energy project development in the area. He states that if it were not for the efforts of an interested and well informed friend - c'est moi- he would doubtless be as ignorant now of Element Power and its plans for Garbally as he was in October 2013. He states he had a vague notion of wind energy project development in the midlands and did not know any specific information. He also states he was not alone in this, as not one resident to whom he subsequently spoke knew about Element Power or the 185 m turbines.
A Garbally resident has drawn up a poster which tries to convey the enormity of the turbines. I have spoken to many women friends in Birr Golf Club about wind farms in the midlands and most of them write me off as a little batty at this stage. Outside Birr there is a wind farm at Knockshegowna, but the turbines there are a mere 18 m high. The turbines planned for Garbally and Taylor's Cross are 185 m high. The planner Auriol Considine stated the Cloghan wind farm was a significant industrial installation in a quiet rural area. I was very involved in the appeal against that wind farm. I went to the extent I did because I am a proud BIFFO - a bright intelligent female from Offaly. I did not want to see a wind farm anywhere in west Offaly while I was there. I went to the extent of hiring an excellent planner, Mr. Peter Crossan, to make an observation on the wind farm in Cloghan. Last year I knew nothing about the planning process and did not send in an objection because I thought as I lived three miles away in Banagher, I would not be eligible to do so. Then I discovered I could send in an observation. Mr. Crossan made an excellent observation for me which I believed helped considerably in making our appeal against the Cloghan wind farm successful. I remind people why Auriol Considine from An Bord Pleanála upheld our appeal.