Ireland's state electricity board is behind a plan to build a 91mw wind farm in the Highlands. It is the latest project by the Electricity Supply Board (ESB), which has been quietly amassing wind power plants in Scotland.

Impact on Landscape Ireland UK

Two large Irish wind farm portfolios have been put on the market by their owners.

General Ireland

Legal Ireland

Ireland faces fines of €600m a year from the EU for failing to meet renewable energy targets and cutting carbon emissions by 2020.

Energy Policy Ireland

The Court of Justice of the EU has upheld arguments by opponents of a wind farm concerning the extent of Coillte’s environmental responsibilities in relation to grid connection works for a wind farm in Co Laois.

General Ireland

Mr Justice Michael Twomey refused to quash the decision and remit it back to the board. He said that despite the alleged errors ...there was a reasonable basis upon which the board could refuse permission.

Legal Ireland

The number of complaints received for wind farm noise is significantly higher in Omagh and Fermanagh District than any other council area. According to latest statistics from DAERA, there was a total of 13 noise complaints.

Impact on People Noise Ireland

An appeal to overturn a decision by Tipperary Co. Council blocking development of a windfarm in Hollyford, west Co. Tipperary, has been rejected by An Bord Pleanála.

General Ireland

Campaigners believe the cairn, a large stone mound covered by earth which would have been used as an ancient burial chamber, could be historically significant and that work could damage the 6,000 year-old site. Planning permission was granted in 2013 by the former Department of the Environment.

Impact on Landscape Ireland

The King’s Highway issue has been raised in a legal case that is a shining example of the problems between developers and opponents of wind farms, writes Michael Clifford. Who owns the King’s Highway? The question might appear redundant in this Republic, but it is the latest to be asked in the perennial struggle around wind farms in rural Ireland.

Legal Ireland

The court said it was setting aside An Bord Pleanala’s decision on grounds including that irrelevant considerations were taken into account by the planning authority when it turned an application by Element Power Ireland Ltd to develop the project.

Impact on People Legal Ireland

'The Bill was to put a legal framework for wind farm development by the proposal of setback distance of ten times the height of the turbine, along with provisions to protect against noise and shadow flicker. The Bill also allowed for both optional community ownership and greater consultation. The Bill was rejected by both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael last night."

Impact on People Ireland

Planning regulation and inspection around wind- farms is expected to come under further scrutiny following claims that a wind- farm in Co Waterford was built with larger blades than allowed for.

General Ireland

The story of the Harris family highlights the fact that the development of wind farms is subject to few planning checks, writes Michael Clifford.

General Ireland

Pádraic Dolan, of the Meath Wind Information Group, said his organisation was confident that any challenge would be unsuccessful. He told the Irish Daily Mail that the planning board had been unequivocal in its refusal, citing the proximity of the wind farm to a large number of homes, and the landscape’s cultural significance. 

Legal Ireland

In its decision it said that the council ‘considered the proposed development would form a significant visual intrusion in the landscape by reason of the height and spatial extent of the proposed turbines ...altering its reading as a rolling rural landscape to a more industrialised scene, when the accumulation of both existing and permitted windfarm developments are viewed in the setting.

General Ireland

North Meath Wind Farm Ltd has launched a High Court challenge after it was refused permission for a 25-turbine wind farm outside Kells.

General Ireland

“What the Government is looking at, at the moment, if we fail to reach our targets for 2020, which we will, is paying out anything between €400m and €600m to the European Commission in fines because we failed to reach our renewable energy targets,” he said.

Zoning/Planning Ireland

Protesters against a Co Wicklow wind farm were putting themselves in danger in a bid to prevent the laying of cables connected to the development, the High Court heard on Monday.

General Ireland

SWWAG chairman John O’Driscoll, who founded the group four years ago, appeared to verbalise the feelings of many (such was the round of applause he received) when he said: ‘We don’t want them [the turbines] anywhere and it’s a load of crap about turbine height. We don’t want them – end of story. This is the Garden of Ireland. Have they no cop on?’

General Ireland