A controversial windfarm proposed for Inishmaan, one of the Aran Islands, has been approved by An Bord Pleanala.
The proposal for a three-turbine 675-kilowatt farm was granted planning permission last July by Galway County Council, but this was appealed to An Bord Pleanala by a number of environmentalists, including the cartographer Mr Tim Robinson and the conservation group Friends of the Irish Environment.
The objectors were principally concerned with the impact of the turbines on the landscape of the island. However, the board's decision, announced yesterday, was immediately welcomed by Mr Peter Keaveney of the Galway Energy Agency, which had supported the local co-op on Inishmaan, developer of the scheme. He said the agency was promoting other schemes in the region and would be pursuing national targets for green energy.
Work is expected to get under way as soon as possible and is to include the development of a desalination plant which will provide fresh water for the island.
In its announcement, the planning board said it had regard to the "national policy on wind energy" which is to encourage the development of wind-generated electricity.
The board also noted the site was in a "low area", and therefore the visual impact of the development was somewhat mitigated. Conditions pertaining to the approval provide for the turbines to be painted light grey and that they should be removed if no longer required. Overall, the board was satisfied that the development would not impinge on the environment unduly.
The chairman of the Irish Wind Energy Association, Mr Eddie O'Connor, was not available for comment yesterday, but last week he told The Irish Times that 20 per cent of the State's electricity requirement could be generated by alternative energy by the end of the decade.
A spokesman for Friends of the Irish Environment said questions remained as to why no environmental impact assessment had been done. "Below the level of five turbines, it is discretionary whether you have an EIS. It depends of the sensitivity of the environment. I would have thought that this case merited one," the spokesman said.
Meanwhile Mr Robinson has appealed to the people of Inish maan to "think again" about proceeding with their wind farm project.
The Friends of the Irish Environment, An Taisce's Galway branch and Mr Robinson were united in their disappointment yesterday, while the island co-op, Comhar Chumann Inis Meain Teo, expressed delight.
The project is the brainchild of Mr Pol O Foighil, the Spiddal-based manager of the island coop, county councillor and mem ber of Udaras na Gaeltachta.
Mr O Foighil and his son, Sean, have already erected four turbines at Indreabhan in Connemara. An application for permission for nine more wind turbines at a site near Letterfrack, Co Galway, has also been lodged by the O Foighils.
Mr Derrick Hambleton, chairman of An Taisce's Galway branch, said the approval on such a scenic site set a worrying precedent. An Taisce was not against renewable energy as such, once it did not conflict with sensitive environmental areas. No planning application for a desalination plant had as yet been lodged by the island co-op with Galway County Council, he said.
The Irish Island Federation, Comdhail Oileain na hEireann, said it had no particular view on the venture, but once the majority of islanders in a co-op were in favour of something it tended to support it.
The Galway Energy Agency Ltd, an independent information body based in City Hall and supported by the local authorities and the EU, said a wind turbine was "a symbol of good responsible energy management and an icon for energy sustainability".