Alex Attwood said the reason a final decision had not yet been issued on the long standing proposal to erect a single 60 metre turbine close to Lough Patrick indicated that concerns about the land's religious significance were being factored in.

It is "far too soon" to make final judgments on which of the export-orientated windfarm projects now being mooted will be approved and under what terms. "There is no fait accompli at this stage. None of this has reassured objectors, who are concerned about the noise and visual impact of onshore turbines and also see the export of wind energy to Britain as equivalent to "selling the family silver".

A new energy strategy for Kerry will see whole swathes of the county earmarked for windfarms - but not in top scenic areas. The initiative coincides with a decision by An Bord Pleanála last week to approve the county's highest turbines near Castleisland. Over 70,000 hectares of land had been identified as suitable for wind, water, and other energy sources.

The Oireachtas is to consider in detail shortly a Bill, tabled by Labour Senator John Kelly, that would impose restrictions on the location of wind turbines near people's homes. Under the Bill, ...larger turbines of 50m-150m would have to be a minimum of 1km to 2km away.

The 730-hectare site stretching to the Cork and west Limerick borders was zoned "open for consideration" rather than suitable in the Kerry County Council development plan, flagging the fact that it had certain sensitivities. Within it were "dual conservation areas" for birds and animals and nearby was an area of special conservation.

It said the Connemara landscape is one of the principal assets of the tourism industry in Co Galway and the proposed development is located on a prominent site in east Connemara in a an area which is part of the Connemara Bog Complex Special Area of Conservation. The site is also within an area with a high-value coastal tourism infrastructure and fisheries resource.

A woman whose farm was damaged by a massive bogslide which occurred during the construction of the Republic's largest wind farm has secured €341,830 damages at the High Court. Mr Justice Eamon de Valera made the award yesterday to Mary Curley, whose family have farmed 16 acres at Derrybrien, Gort, Co Galway, for three generations.

A proposed wind farm on a Co Leitrim mountain comprising mainly blanket bog, has been turned down by an Bord Pleanála because of the risk of "slope instability" and surface pollution. The board pointed out that the proposed site for the eight-turbine development on Dough mountain, five kilometres from Manorhamilton, was in a Natural Heritage Area.

A wind turbine company is being sued by a farming community in Kerry one year after a bog slide - which has still not been cleared - blocked access to their land. Residents of Lyrecrom­pane in the Stack mountains have insisted that the wind farm - currently being developed by Tralee-based Tra Investments - is to blame for last August's bog slide.

The third wet summer in succession - rainfall for July alone was more than three times above normal in parts of Munster and Leinster - again sparks fears of landslides. We've had several examples in recent years of unexpected slippages which are sometimes described as ‘Ireland's greatest natural hazards', given that we don't have even more devastating phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanoes. Landslides are on the increase due mainly to climate change and man's activities, including wind farm construction.

The board overturned the decision after the granting of planning was recommended by An Bord Pleanala's own inspector who recommended the development go ahead with 21 conditions. The inspector gave the go-ahead because of the general suitability of the site for wind power electricity generation, the absence of amenity or conservation designations and the distance from existing housing.

Developers who consistently abuse the planning system could be banned from building in Ireland, under legislation being drafted by the minister for the environment. ...The ban on planning retention for developments requiring an EIA was prompted by a judgment by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) last July. ...The judgment related to a wind farm at Derrybrien, Co Galway, where the construction of a service road caused a landslide on a blanket bog.

The EU Environment Commission is to investigate a windfarm development in the Stacks mountains which was at the centre of concerns after a bog slide during heaving rainfall in August. ...Local residents in the Stacks mountains wrote to environment commissioner Stavros Dimas in October to say they were deeply concerned with the manner in which the windfarm at Ballincollig Hill, near Tralee, was being constructed on sensitive bog and to ask that work - which resumed recently - be stopped. The residents said "large tracts of beautiful boglands and rivers" had being damaged in the slide and the nest of a hen harrier, hares and other wildlife disturbed.

Following on from last weeks landslide which is thought to have been caused as a result of work that is being carried out on a wind farm site, Shannon Regional Fisheries Board's Matt Nolan has reported that to date 2,000 small fish have been removed from the Owengar River. ...Having visited the site, Dromahair based Green Party member, Johnny Gogan believes that "it appears that the bogslide resulted from a heavy build up of excavated material on Corrie mountain related to the construction of an access road to the intended wind-farm. Such a liability should have been detected by an effective Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

A bogslide which threatened one of the country's premier fishing lakes appeared to have come to a halt yesterday. For the third consecutive night, geotechnical experts and wind farm and forestry staff remained at the scene of a potential environmental disaster. ...The slide began on Tuesday afternoon during the construction of a road to the Garvagh Glebe North wind farm, a joint project between Coillte and Hibernian Wind Power, a subsidiary of the ESB.

Locals in north Kerry are up in arms at the alleged role of a wind energy firm in the landslide that destroyed a river's salmon and trout stocks. Before the facts of what caused last week's landslide in a north Kerry river network were known, a nearby wind energy firm taking the brunt of the local anger. Prior to the landslide, Tralee-based company Tra Investments had begun site works for an eight-turbine wind farm in the Ballincollig Hill-Maghanknockane area. Within 24 hours of the slide, the company announced that it would commission an independent review into the incident, which it promised to make public.