West Cork wind farm protest will see dancing at the crossroads on St Bridget's Day
A wind farm developer has applied for permission for seven 150m turbines near Ballydehob, but some locals say the area is a peatland habitat and archaeological hotspot in need of protection.
Dancing at the crossroads on St Bridget’s Day may sound like a traditional custom with origins lost in the mists of time, but at Shronagree outside Ballydehob, dancers and musicians are set to meet for a much more modern purpose.
The gathering has been organised in protest at an application for a new wind farm development at Shronagree.
Ballybane Wind Farms 2 Ltd applied to Cork County Council for planning permission for seven 150 metre wind turbines, “a wind farm with an operational lifespan of 30 years to connect to the national grid,” plus a radio mast and a substation, in December. The deadline for public submissions on the planning application is February 7.
Organisers of the protest are hoping to drum up support for their cause, Keep Shronagree Wind Turbine Free, by meeting at the Shronagree crossroads on St Bridget’s day to dance and make music before hiking up to Letterlicky Cairn, a Neolithic scheduled National Monument that sits within the site subject to planning.
Local artist Toma McCullim, who lives in nearby Church Cross, organised the event.
She told Tripe + Drisheen that the turbines planned for Ballybane 2 are 50 metres higher than the turbines at an adjacent wind farm, Ballybane East, and that there are concerns for wildlife habitats and sites of archaeological importance as well as for the visual impact of the structures.
The wind development at Ballybane East, built by the same developer that made the application currently discussed, was sold to international renewable energy investors Greencoat Renewables for €61.3 million in 2018.
“This is a site of real importance, archaeologically and for wildlife,” Toma said. “There are other places we can put turbines.”
Wind power, but “not at any cost”
“I very much believe in using wind and solar power, but not at any cost. These turbines are half again the size of the turbines that are there. The turbines that are there are already quite disturbing to the environment. They’ll be taller than Mount Gabriel.”
She said the sale of the previous wind farm had shaken local trust in the public good of the project.
“These turbines are actually about profit, and we don’t need wind turbines for profit, we need energy at a human scale and we need to change our attitudes towards a profit-driven energy society,” she said. “We need to lose the colonial approach to our environment: it’s not just there for our use. We need to protect other life forms.”
The area is home to Letterlicky Cairn and Toma said she has large concerns about the impact of the wind farm on this archaeological site and potential undiscovered others.
“There’s not many places that have a sense of wild in them any more, especially not ones with access, and that’s why people go walking in them,” she said. “Letterlicky Cairn is there, and so many cap and ring stones and sites are just being found in the area. It’s something we’re not taking seriously enough.”
Toma and other objectors are also pointing to peatland habitat and biodiversity loss as concerns, as well as the impacts of the construction of “new onsite access roads” and road-widening at the N71-R592 junction east of Ballydehob as well as at the N71-L845 crossroads.
A full Environmental Impact Report is viewable on the Cork County Council Planning Portal.
13 letters of objection have been submitted on the planning application so far and the closing date for objections is February 7.
Inland Fisheries Ireland have made a submission on the application asking that conditions be in applied, should the application be granted, to combat potential runoff into local watercourses including during a potential construction phase.
The Department of Defence has also made a submission asking that obstacle lighting be included in conditions.
The St Bridget’s day gathering, set to take place at 2.30pm, will bring “a sense of empowerment about something we can feel quite disempowered about,” Toma said.
“We are going to be sharing information and encouraging people to engage in the planning process.”