Risks of landslide site not assessed, EU states

The European Commission has issued the Government with an initial warning over the Derrybrien wind farm project in Co Galway, where a landslide occurred last October.

The Commission has also pointed out that the environmental impact assessments (EIAs) undertaken for the €60 million wind farm development "appear to have been manifestly deficient" in "failing to provide ... any adequate information on the geophysical risks associated with the project. The developer's information appears seriously lacking in this regard, and no environmental authority made up for its deficiency".

The Commission's environment directorate-general's opinion was cited in a letter sent to the Derrybrien Landslide Action Group, which had lodged a complaint with the European Commission.

The response has been welcomed by Mr Martin Collins of the Derrybrien Action Group, who said that no decision had as yet been taken by the residents in relation to a possible injunction to halt work at the wind farm. Following investigations by both Hibernian Wind Power, the ESB subsidiary, and Galway County Council into the cause of the landslide, work has resumed at the wind farm site.

Hibernian Wind Power said the EIA for the project had been carried out under best practice at the time, and there had been no requirement for a geophysical or geotechnical assessment of the site.

A report has since identified work on construction of the wind farm as being one of the main causes of a landslide in the area.

A Cork firm building the first wind farm in Co Clare has been ordered by Clare County Council to cease work immediately.

Booltiagh Wind Ltd began work on the 15-turbine wind farm near the village of Connolly, but the council has sent the company a letter demanding that it cease work on the €20 million project.

The council claims the plan is not being carried out under the terms of the planning permission.

It says some turbines are being built where they should not be built, and that the proposed development site has been altered.

It also says it has received a letter from solicitors acting for local landowner Mr John Keating, confirming that the site granted planning has been altered.

A company spokeswoman said it was in the process of putting together a response.