North Mayo residents renew campaign against windfarm

A local community opposed to a proposed windfarm in their scenic area has been warned by a man living beside another such development that he and his family have “been through hell”. 

The Lacken Ballycastle Landscape Protection Group held a public meeting in Lacken Community Centre last Thursday to discuss the community’s concerns over Tirawley Windfarm, a proposed 16-wind turbine development in the Lacken area, and to outline how locals can either make a submission to An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) or join a group submission regarding the proposal.

Chairperson Teresa Fagan said there is grave concern in the area over a number of aspects of the proposal including the turbine blades, proposed to be 135 metres high, the fire risk posed by the battery energy storage system (BESS) and the substation, all of which are included in applicant Constant Energy’s planning proposal.

“These are not small traditional, rural structures, they are large-scale industrial developments,” she said. “Each battery is about 11 metres long and there are 20 included in their plan… the substation is about 741 square metres, which is about 2.5 tennis courts long and about 50 feet high. That is only 10 metres smaller than the round tower in Killala.” 

Ms Fagan said there were also concerns about the impact construction traffic would have on the roads around the area, the visual impact from homes, noise concerns, the impact on tourism and shadow flicker, which she said had the potential to impact over 100 homes in the Lacken area.

“You might think that these turbines will never go up in Lacken but national policy and strategy mean it could go up here, we are not very important to the people in Dublin down here,” she said. “They will justify destroying our homes. Without submissions, ACP won’t listen. Our community voices matter and our personal experience and local knowledge is important.” 

She added they were encouraged by Mayo County Council planners and councillors voicing their opposition to this proposal.

Alan Mullarkey, who lives next door to Oweninny Windfarm, Ireland’s largest operational onshore windfarm located close to Bangor Erris, told the meeting his family’s experience living in the area has been a 'nightmare'.

“Everything was thrown at us with no consideration for anyone in the area. We’ve been through hell. We get shadow flicker from every angle. The noise is unbearable, it is a constant ‘whish, whish, whish’,” he said.

“There is a place for wind turbines but it is not in these spaces.” 

Mr Mullarkey told attendees they have to stick together in the face of this proposal and gave them an open invitation to visit his home to see the impact the nearby windfarm has had for themselves.

“You have a thriving committee here who have hit the nail on the head but don’t just rely on the committee to look after this,” he said.

“Every day you’ll wake up and you’ll be looking up at these. You have to stick together and get your submissions in.” 

Cllr Jarlath Munnelly said Mayo County Council will have to make a submission in relation to this proposal and will be opposing it. He said a new tourism strategy was recently adopted for the north Mayo area and that plan should be prioritised ahead of any major infrastructural developments that could negatively impact the plan.

The meeting was attended by local residents as well as people opposing other wind projects, including a recently proposed seven-turbine development in Mayo Abbey by Cunlaghfadda Green Energy.