Teddy bear maker saves hen harrier from €80m windfarm
A LANDMARK decision by the European Court of Justice looks set to protect the rights of the hen harrier species of bird and block an €80m wind farm from going ahead.
And according to a craft worker, who campaigned against the ambitious plan by the ESB and the State forestry firm Coillte to erect 16 massive turbines in a protected woodland and bog in Tipperary, the ruling may also lead to a change in Irish planning laws.
Edel Grace lives near Keeper Hill – which is part of the Special Protection Area that runs from Slieve Felim to the Silvermines Mountains on the Limerick-Tipperary border – where the Bunkimalta wind farm was proposed to be built.
It is a protected area under EU law because the hen harrier is deemed to be an endangered species. And last Wednesday the European Court of Justice issued a ruling that effectively backed those opposed to the proposed wind farm.
The €80m wind farm was previ- ously approved by the national planning authority An Bord Pleanála, after planning permission was refused by the local county council. The Department of Heritage was also opposed to the proposed wind farm, as were inspectors within the State planning authority. However, the board’s decision was then appealed to the High Court which ruled in favour of the An Bord Pleanála. However, teddy bear maker Edel Grace and environmentalist Peter Sweetman then lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court, and the country’s most senior court referred the case to the European Court of Justice. This weekend Ms Grace told the Irish Mail on Sunday of her delight at the decision. ‘I don’t think the wind farm can go ahead now. Obviously it has to come back to the Irish courts.
‘There was a question asked by the Supreme Court of the European Court of Justice so it will have to come back to the Supreme Court and then they will make a final ruling on it. The Supreme Court will give the final direction. ‘I hope it will be quashed entirely. This decision means that there will be more protection to Special Protection Areas.
‘This has to be put into Irish law. If this wind farm had gone ahead it would have set a precedent that SPA (Special Protection Areas) status counted for nothing. This area is a bird sanctuary and if the wind farm had gone ahead it would have meant that there were 16 killing machines of hen harriers in a bird sanctuary.
‘That would have been terrible. The fact that the county council had said No to Keeper Hill turbines, the Department of Heritage said No, An Bord Pleanála’s own inspectors said No to Keeper Hill and even an ordinary person like me, who makes teddy bears, knew this wasn’t the right decision.
‘So for An Bord Pleanála to have granted planning permission is mind boggling.’
The ESB’s proposed wind farm was to have been located in a section of a 20,935 hectare woodland and bog designated as a specially protected area for hen harriers.
Up to 41.7 hectares of trees would have been cut down to make room for the 16 wind turbines and up to nine hectares currently used by hen harriers for foraging would have been permanently destroyed.
The Supreme Court referred the case to the European Court of Justice because it had a question about whether specially protected environmental areas must be protected in their entirety.
This weekend, the ESB said it would need to study the judgment before deciding the ultimate fate of the proposed wind farm, which was to have been run by Coillte.
In a statement issued to the Irish Mail on Sunday, a spokesman said: ‘ESB Wind Development Limited and Coillte note the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union in relation to the planning process for the proposed Bunkimalta wind farm.
‘We will study the judgment carefully and assess the implications for the project.’
‘It would have meant 16 killing machines’ ‘An Bord Pleanála’s decision mind-boggling’