A public meeting held on Wednesday evening in Drumshallon Forge to oppose the development of a wind farm in the Kellystown area was very well supported by residents of Monasterboice and surrounding districts.
The consensus of opinion at the meeting was that this is the wrong place to build a wind farm, the turbines will be too high, too close and too loud ‘.
Concerns were expressed as to how the 2006 guidelines on wind farms are completely outdated. ‘As it is, a turbine can be built as close as 500m to your house’ said chairperson Ray Donagh.
“EDF have stated though that they will follow the 2019 draft guidelines and strive to keep turbines within 720 m from a dwelling. There will however be no concession on Noise and the 2006 guide lines will be followed. ‘ This gives great cause for concern.
“Videos were shown of people who had lived in the shadow of a wind farm . This made for very sombre viewing as we watched a couple crying because they had to leave their home in Roscommon due to noise from a wind farm.
Pat O’Brien from West Cork told the meeting how he had to ‘up and leave his home’ due to infra noise from the turbines.
One video gave us quite a shock and a taste of things to come. We were watching footage of a wildlife documentary which was made by vice chair Noel Marry. The scene was tranquil, soft music was playing, the birds were feeding their young as small animals were scampering about.
“Suddenly all changed and we were watching the earth being blown up and the destruction and unbelievable noise that comes with building a massive base for a turbine. The steel, the cement the utter carnage of the land.
Olga Drury received a huge round of applause when she spoke passionately about the need to raise funds to fight this development.
As one looked around the hall the photomontages of 180m high structures on the walls were plain to be seen. The large maps showing the proposed site and the entrances to the turbines plus the map depicting where the turbines were going to be sited and where each house was in relation to the turbines.
There were photos on display of the local countryside as it is now. There were stands with information on how noise and shadow flicker May affect your health.
EDF are due to apply for planning permission by the end of March. Submissions have to be sent in within 5 weeks of that date.
You can keep up to date with what is happening by logging on then group’s FaceBook page where you can also find the go fund me details.
