Offaly Councillors demand overhaul of outdated wind energy guidelines

MOUNTING frustration over outdated wind energy regulations came to a head at the July meeting of Offaly County Council, where councillors united calling for an immediate update to national guidelines. Many argued the current framework is no longer fit for purpose and communities are paying the price.

In a notice of motion Councillor Sean O’Brien said: ”The council should write to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage asking that the new guidelines be finalised and forwarded to Local Authorities forthwith.” He also requested the Council to seek a meeting with the Department on the matter.

”The current regulations relate to 2006 and are completely outdated. Some of the issues that were not foreseen at that stage include the height of the wind turbines. They were between 70 and 100 metres and are now between 200 to 220 metres and maybe even bigger in the coming years. There have been several calls for a review. We have issues like noise pollution, sleep deprivation and shadow flicker. We need the legislation now.”

Cllr O’Brien went on to mention the Meenwaun wind turbine site where unbearable noise has been reported.

From our own records, there are 16 pages with over 200 complaints.”That is significant. In July 2018 the council asked Ikan Acoustics to independently review the site. They presented a report and outlined several of the issues involved. They felt the original report was a poor one. Offaly County Council requested that the operator close down the wind farm between 2am and 3am each day in order to get a baseline of the noise in the area. They didn’t comply.

In 2022, Offaly County Council issued an unauthorised development letter, but there was no enforcement. Meanwhile the complaints continue. This is a health issue. The real experts are the HSE and I wonder how many complaints are referred to them. I think it’s high time to write to the Minister, seek the updated guidelines and seek a meeting with the department,”said Cllr O’Brien.

Councillor Peter Ormond sought an amendment to the motion to include all renewables. And ”in recognition of the uncertainty that it has caused to introduce a temporary pause on large scale projects.”

Director of Services, Andrew Murray said there could be an issue asking the minister to put a temporary pause on large scale applications. ”Anyone can make an application for anything. It’s government policy that would need to be amended,” he added.

Councillor Frank Moran asked if there was an opportunity to review the wind energy strategy within the county development plan.

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Cllr Hughie Egan said the draft guidelines have been sitting on a shelf too long. He referred to a group from Lemanaghan who mounted a protest outside the council offices prior to the meeting. Bord na Mona are seeking to develop a wind farm in their area. ”I want to make an appeal to Bord na Mona again to stand back from this heritage site which is so intrinsically linked to Clonmacnoise, and see if you need this, especially considering the heavy lifting this county has done in regard to renewables,” he added.

Councillor Aoife Masterson said she was ”very often bemused by parties who have been in power for over 12 years, now saying it’s not good enough that something hasn’t been brought forward, It’s baffling. We have been waiting on those for over 23 years now.”

She went on to talk about the historical site that is Lemanaghan. ”Often in Offaly we don’t value our monastic history; we have one of the greatest in the country.”

However, Cathaoirleach John Leahy told Cllr Masterson she was going off the motion which was about regulations.

Finally Councillor Leahy said the council should write to the Minister to get clarification on these regulations so that when the council resumes in September, ”we can start implementing what is good for Offaly and good for communities.”

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