Calls for urgent review of ‘outdated’ legislation that could see industrial-scale wind farms cause irreversible damage to West Cork’s unique and unspoilt heritage and landscape.

COMMUNITIES across West Cork fighting plans for three separate wind farms fear outdated legislation could see ‘industrial scale’ turbines installed in rural settings.

The 2006 Wind Energy Development Guidelines remain the only statutory framework for assessing wind farm applications, despite the fact that turbines have more than doubled in size.

Residents of the Maughanaclea Hills, close to Bantry, including the communities of Kealkill, Coomclogh, Cousane and the Mealagh Valley, are opposing plans by Enerco Energy for a Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID) wind farm of at least 14 turbines, each soaring to 169 metres (554 ft) - two and a half times taller than Cork’s Elysian building.

In nearby Gortloughra, the community is battling a parallel proposal for 175m (574ft) turbines by Statkraft.

Cork County Council has already refused this application, but it is now under appeal to An Coimisiún Pleanála.

In Derreenacrinnig West, plans for the construction of three 150m (492ft) turbines would see them sit visually opposite the proposed Maughanaclea development creating what campaigners describe as ‘an unacceptable clustering of giant turbines across the Mealagh Valley and surrounding uplands’.

Noelle Aller Ontalba, spokesperson for campaign group Stop The Spin, said: ‘With this broken system of outdated guidelines, communities are left defenceless.

It is outrageous that in 2025, Ireland is still assessing giant turbines under guidelines written in 2006. 

These rules were drafted for machines half the size, before today’s research on health effects, before EU biodiversity protections and long before the risks of Battery Energy Storage Systems were even imaged. Yet they remain the law of the land.’

The 2006 guidelines set no maximum turbine height, no minimum setback distance and only vague references to noise and shadow flicker.

Noelle added: ‘The irreversible damage to heritage and landscape is extremely concerning. The Maughanaclea uplands are home to fragile ecosystems, peatland and protected species including birds, bats, amphibians, insects and mammals.   The construction of turbines, substations, haul roads and cabling would permanently scar the land. Tourism, the backbone of West Cork’s rural economy, depends on unspoilt mountain landscapes, panoramic views, archaeology and tranquility - all of which are threatened.’

The community of the Maughanaclea Hills are calling for immediate suspension of all new wind farm applications under the 2006 guidelines.

They want updated guidelines drafted and enacted as a matter of urgency, and the community is mobilising to oppose Enerco’s planned SID application which is due to be lodged shortly.

A spokesman for Enerco Energy, Padraig Quille, told The Southern Star that the EU’s latest Renewable Energy Directive, which was brought into law here in August, would need to be considered ‘before we can set a new target for lodging the application’. He added: ‘We will continue to keep the community updated.’

West Cork archaeologist Tony Miller warned: ‘The Shehy Mountains, Mealagh and Maughanaclea areas contain one of the richest clusters of prehistoric monuments in Ireland, including wedge tombs and the Kealkill Stone Circle. These sites will be overwhelmed if industrialisation of the scale is allowed to proceed under outdated rules.’