Climate activists raise questions about who benefits from Leitrim wind farms

The sight of people cutting turf in the shadow of massive wind turbines in places like Co Leitrim raises climate justice issues about who benefits from such infrastructure, according to a leading academic in this area.

Maynooth University lecturer Patrick Bresnihan who is on Friday attending a climate camp, billed as a five-day “festival of resistance” near Manorhamilton in Co Leitrim, said it was important to ask questions when big tech companies invest in wind energy.

“We need wind energy but it is important that more attention is paid to where the infrastructure is being built and to ask the question who is benefiting and who carries the burden,” said Dr Bresnihan. He has previously warned the Government that data centres will use up to 70 per cent of the State’s electricity grid capacity by 2030.

Dr Bresnihan said wind farms were often promoted by saying they had the potential to “power X amount of homes” but if a major tech company was financing the infrastructure they were likely to be the ones benefiting from all the energy being produced.

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“It is important to ask who the renewable energy is for, especially in places like Leitrim where many of the houses in close proximity to wind farms are using solid fuel,” he said.

The lecturer in Maynooth’s department of geography said people were still, for example, cutting turf for domestic use on Dough mountain in Co Leitrim where many locals are opposed to a proposal by FuturEnergy, a joint venture by Coillte and the ESB, to build 18 turbines measuring 185m high, because of the risk of landslides, impact on blanket bog and threat to wildlife. “We need to ask basic questions about who benefits from wind farms,” said Dr Bresnihan.

The climate camp, organised by environmental group Slí Eile and several Leitrim lobby groups opposed to gold mining, fracking and non-native afforestation, is being held in Pollboy — one of 47 townlands in the county covered by a gold mining prospecting licence. It was granted last year to mining company Flintridge Resources by Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan.

James Gilmartin, who owns part of the land where the climate camp is being held, said that as the seventh generation of his family to farm this land said he feels “fortunate and I want to leave it as good if not better for my kids and the kids coming after them”.

As chairman of Treasure Leitrim which was set up to oppose mining for gold in the area, he said farmers and landowners were being encouraged to refuse access to anyone prospecting for gold.

But he warned that if the 2017 Minerals Act becomes law, that right to refuse access will be lost.

Against fracking

Environmental scientist Laura Kehoe of Slí Eile said Leitrim was facing “a huge amount of threats” but the local community had by coming together mounted such a strong campaign against fracking that it was now banned in Ireland. ”That should be celebrated more”.

Dr Kehoe said many people feel daunted by the unfolding climate crisis but it was important to “get involved … work together for system change”.

Jamie Murphy chairman of Love Leitrim, which led the anti-fracking campaign in the county, said Leitrim had become a magnet for various extractive industries over recent years. He said this included fracking, non-native forestry plantations, industrial wind turbines and most recently the mining industry attempting to get a foothold in the community. He added that this was partly because the population was small. “I think they felt there would not be any resistance in the community but the opposite has been the case and Leitrim has been a benchmark for other communities trying to resist these threats.”

Among the issues highlighted at the climate camp on Thursday was the impact of climate crisis on the Traveller community.

Mr Murphy, who works with the Sligo Traveller Support Group, said a recent survey indicated that 77 per cent of the Traveller community was experiencing energy poverty. “There is a historic legacy of under-investment in Traveller accommodation. A lot of it is badly insulated and relies on solid fuels,” he said. “We cannot leave that community behind when it comes to climate justice”.