Concerned families to meet over wind farm proposals this Saturday

Angry locals who claim the planned wind farm industrialisation of rural areas in west and south-west Donegal is causing them to feel anxious and under siege have organised a public meeting for this Saturday to highlight the issues.

The organisers, the Gweebarra Conservation Group, say families living in the areas around Glenties, Gweebarra, Maas, Portnoo, Ardara and Fintown are feeling under constant threat in their own homes.

“They feel like their lives are under siege with constant wind farm planning applications threatening to disrupt their way of life and the quiet enjoyment of their homes.

“This is inducing a high degree of anxiety in the local community who fear the landscape they enjoy, that is a part of them, and the traditional farming and family values they hold will be destroyed by developers intent in profiting by digging up the peat bogs beneath their feet and endangering their health and the local environment in the process. Likewise, local tourism businesses fear we will lose our iconic scenery and that they will go out of business," a spokesperson said

The group points out that they are particularly anxious over proposed developments.

Maas Wind Limited has now applied to An Bord Pleanála to erect more and bigger turbines at Maas on the Wild Atlantic Way. People in townlands surrounding Glenties await a decision from An Bord Pleanála about another proposed wind farm at Graffy while those living on and around the Gweebarra river special area of conservation expect yet another wind farm planning application in the coming weeks.

Co-development partners, Ørsted and FuturEnergy Ireland are jointly developing the proposed Cloghercor Wind Farm project there. It is located 2km south of Doochary Having introduced the proposed project to the community in 2021, they claim that ongoing site studies and community feedback have resulted in changes to the original scale of the proposed development, taking it down from 23 to 19 turbines with a tip height of 185-200m. Their online presentation shows the companies will allow for the development of recreational amenities around the site, including marked walking trails along the site access roads, viewing points, signage and the provision of a permanent public car park with seating and picnic tables at the end of the construction phase.

Several months ago local councillors voted to keep these areas wind turbine free but according to the conservation group, central government is threatening to ignore them too.

All this planned industrialisation of a rural area is vehemently opposed locally. People have erected No Turbines signs only to have them stolen. People have had enough of this nonsense. Peat bogs are carbon sinks and digging them up for turbines is ridiculous and dangerous as we have seen at Meenbog outside Ballybofey where wind farm construction in a conifer plantation caused a bog slide that polluted rivers only two years ago and which will take decades to recover," the spokesperson added.

The Gweebarra Conservation Group meeting for people concerned about these wind farms takes place Elliott's Bar, Leitirmacaward on Saturday next, November 26 between 2pm and 4pm.