Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the issue of the Derrybrien wind farm with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. Obviously he is not here and I thank the Minister of State for coming even though it is not in her Department. I appreciate that there are probably a lot of places she would rather be than fulfilling duties outside of her departmental remit. Derrybrien is not directly in the Minister of State's constituency and I know the boundary between Galway East and Galway West changes occasionally but Derrybrien is pretty firmly in the Galway East constituency. However, everybody in the country is aware of Derrybrien and what it is. It is at the northern end of the Slieve Aughty mountain range, which comprises about 65,000 ha. The Derrybrien wind farm is about 345 ha of that, and some 70 wind turbines were granted planning permission there. There was quite a huge landslide in October 2003, which had a detrimental effect on the environment. An Bord Pleanála described it as having "significant... residual effects" that cannot be fully mitigated, with "significant effects on the environment". Ireland was taken to task by the European Commission for its failure to respect the habitats directive. That case against Ireland was successful and there was an environmental impact assessment carried out but it was found to be inadequate as a result of that court case, rendering the planning permission effectively invalid.

I do not think the wind farm should have been built and I do not think anybody would grant planning permission for it now but that is not necessarily the issue. The issue is that it is there, the damage has been incurred and we have taken all of the downsides of it. That includes the local community, the communities around Slieve Aughty and the environment. The issue now is if we can obtain a benefit from it. An Bord Pleanála, notwithstanding the inspector's recommendation this summer, recommended that substitute permission not be granted. It found that there were no exceptional circumstances. The requirement for exceptional circumstances was the subject of Supreme Court litigation where the State's planning regime was again found to be inadequate, although this time not by the European courts but by the Irish Supreme Court. The court found that there were no exceptional circumstances and I understand and accept that we cannot reward persons for flouting planning legislation, inadvertently or advertently, which is what happened in this instance.

The issue is whether a new application could and should be made. It is not right or proper that the ESB would benefit from this, or Coillte, which is the landowner for at least part of the wind farm. Perhaps this should be transferred to a local authority to make a new application with the explicit undertaking that any and all profits that are made from this development go back into protecting the environment of Slieve Aughty. This would include both remediating the damage and furthermore, protecting the environment of that mountain range, which is badly damaged by that wind farm.

That two wrongs do not make a right is, in effect, what I am suggesting.

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