Report on Co Galway mudslide due today

The first of two reports into a major bogslide at Derrybrien, Co Galway,  last October is to be published today.

The first of two reports into a major bogslide at Derrybrien, Co Galway,  last October is to be published today.

The research, done by Applied Ground Engineering Consultants, has been commissioned by the ESB-owned subsidiary Hibernian Wind Power, which is building a €60 million wind farm on hillside near the village.

The company's report is separate to that being drawn up by Galway County Council, with the latter's research due for publication later this month.

The cause of the slide has not yet been determined, but all work on the 60-megawatt wind farm will stay halted until the county council publishes its report.

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No one was injured in the initial slide at Derrybrien on October 16th, which occurred in dry weather when some 70 contractors attached to the wind farm project, and to Coillte, were working on-site. The blanket bog and mud slid over two kilometres through Coillte forests, closing local roads and polluting the Lough Cutra river system.

Local residents have claimed that work at the site triggered the bogslide last year, alleging the developers did not comply with planning conditions attached to the project.

Following a meeting with the Derrybrien Landslide Action Group in Brussels last month, the European Commission has pledged to investigate the project's environmental impact statement. Residents have claimed that this environmental impact statement was deficient, as it lacked a full geotechnical survey as required by an EU directive.