Planning permission has been granted for three 156m high wind turbines in an area between Gougane Barra and Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh (Ballingeary).

Cork County Council approved plans for Curraglass Wind Farm on the condition that the development company, Wingleaf Ltd, resurface the road around the site entrance before work begins, and that the windfarm operates with set noise limits.

Measures are to be taken to protect the Kerry Slug in the area, as well as surveys carried out on both bats and bat corpses particularly during the breeding season.

Bird monitoring in the first 15 years of the windfarm is also to be carried out by a competent expert.

Over 50 submissions were lodged by locals, the majority with an address in Kealkill.

Among the arguments made against the development were the claim that there are too many windfarms in the area as it is, and in a wider context that the county has reached a ‘tipping point’ with regards to such development.

A number of people echoed this view, particularly in light of the planned windfarm development at Maughanaclea, and others that are already in operation in the area.

Fears were also expressed about the impact on tourism, including from a representative of the Gougane Barra Hotel.

The hotel noted also that the valley is ‘full of wildlife…bird species such as willow warblers, fire crests…while the great ravens, peregrine falcons, and now the white-tailed sea eagle guard the rocky crags above’.

They pointed out that the white-tailed eagle’s route from Glengarriff to Gougane takes it via the location of the planned wind turbines.

Another objection said no mention has been made by the developer of the possibilities of sea eagle, barn owls, or peregrine falcons in the area.

Other submissions claimed that the turbines will be visible more extensively than claimed in the application, and that the valley was not sufficiently recognised for its landscape value.

A public information evening on the development was held almost a year ago, in February 2025.

A previous application by the same company for a larger windfarm development had been made in 2020, and was ultimately denied by An Bord Pleanála (An Coimisiún Pleanála)in 2024.