Co Galway residents critical of reports on landslides

Residents of Derrybrien in Co Galway have criticised the publication of reports into landslides in the area which, they claim…

Residents of Derrybrien in Co Galway have criticised the publication of reports into landslides in the area which, they claim, do not go far enough to address the causes of the problem.

They have called for an independent inquiry into the granting of planning permission for the €60 million wind farm where construction work was suspended following the contamination of a stream and the closure of two public roads.

On Tuesday, Galway County Council published two reports whose findings were broadly similar to those of AGEC, the consultants employed by wind farm developers Hibernian Windpower Ltd.

Galway county manager Mr Donal O'Donoghue urged Hibernian Windpower - a subsidiary of the ESB - to study the reports seriously before planning any more activity at the site.

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However, the Derrybrien Landslide Action Group has questioned the independence of the reports, which were commissioned by the developers themselves and the local authority which granted planning permission.

"If we had the resources to fund an independent report ourselves, we are sure the findings would be a lot different," said spokesman Mr Martin Collins. "I feel at this stage that the reason any further development will take place on that site is because they have already spent so much money on it."

He said the action group had forwarded copies of the three reports to the EU's Directorate General of the Environment in Brussels. He called for Hibernian Windpower to submit a new planning application.

Hibernian Windpower said it would closely examine the reports' recommendations. It intends to follow up on the recommendations of its own AGEC document to complete the wind farm in safety.