Concern at timing of proposed wind farm - days after launch of Wild Mayo tourism plan
COMMUNITY group Rural West Environmentalists and Erris Chamber of Commerce have raised serious concerns about the timing of a planning application for a major industrial wind farm on boglands above Blacksod Bay.
Site notices were erected on May 18 - just 17 days after Fáilte Ireland launched a multi-million euro five-year tourism strategy for the region.
The Wild Mayo Destination and Experience Development Plan (DEDP), launched at Ballinglen Museum of Art in Ballycastle on May 1 by Minister of State Alan Dillon, in partnership with Fáilte Ireland and Mayo County Council, sets out a five-year roadmap for sustainable tourism growth across north Mayo. The plan explicitly identifies the Mullet Peninsula and the Erris Gaeltacht as cornerstones of the region's tourism future, and names the 15-kilometre Céide Coastal Path - linking two world-class heritage sites on the Wild Atlantic Way - as its flagship catalyst project.
Seventeen days later, RWE Renewables Ireland Limited erected statutory site notices for permission to construct 13 wind turbines on the boglands of Muingmore, each reaching a blade tip height of up to 180 metres, on land overlooking Blacksod Bay and the Mullet Peninsula. The development seeks a 35-year operational life.
Brian Bakeberg, president of Erris Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Wild Mayo DEDP steering committee, said the timing had left the community reeling.
"I was in the room at Ballinglen on 1st May as tears of absolute joy ran down my face and many others as launch date had arrived. I sat on the committee that helped develop the Wild Mayo plan. It took years of work by this community to bring it to fruition.
“The plan is built on our wild coastline, our Gaeltacht, and our unspoilt landscape.
“Seventeen days later, signs went up on the boglands above Blacksod Bay for 13 turbines at 180 metres. The ink on the tourism plan was barely dry.”
He continued: "We are not opposed to renewable energy. We are opposed to the wrong development in the wrong location - one that directly threatens the protected marine environment of Blacksod Bay and makes the delivery of the Wild Mayo DEDP impossible before it has even begun."
The Rural West Environmentalists, a collective of local residents, landowners, and stakeholders, will formally lodge an observation with An Coimisiún Pleanála opposing the development on environmental, ecological, and planning grounds.
At the heart of the environmental case is the Mullet/Blacksod Bay Complex Special Area of Conservation (SAC), a legally protected Natura 2000 site containing internationally rare maerl beds, biogenic reefs formed by Serpula vermicularis worms, and extensive seagrass communities, all documented in an official survey commissioned by the National Parks and Wildlife Service in 2008.
The groups says the proposed construction site sits on waterlogged peatland that drains directly into the bay. Significantly, RWE Renewables itself, they say, confirmed at its own pre-application consultation with An Bord Pleanála in January 2024 that the development site lies within the Blacksod–Broadhaven water catchment. At that same meeting, the board's own representatives flagged that Doolough Stream is 'at risk' and that connected waterbodies are 'under review' under the Water Framework Directive.
Construction on deep peat above a protected marine bay risks releasing vast quantities of sediment and pollutants into waters containing habitats of the highest European conservation value.
Rural West Environmentalists point to four separate occasions on which An Bord Pleanála and An Coimisiún Pleanála have refused permission for wind farms in comparable circumstances:
Croaghaglin, Co. Donegal - refused because the board was not satisfied the development would not adversely affect downstream SACs due to peat excavation and sediment release.
Cluddaun, Co. Mayo - refused because the board was not satisfied the development would not negatively impact surface and groundwater hydrology.
Killybegs access works, Co. Donegal (2025) - refused by An Coimisiún Pleanála as recently as last year due to uncertainty over peat stability and hydrological impact on local waterbodies.
Cashelnavean, Co. Donegal (High Court, 2024) - a bog slide during wind farm construction sent approximately 65,000 cubic metres of peat into European-protected waterways. The High Court halted the development, ruling that the integrity of planning and environmental law 'weighs heaviest'.
CONSULTATION AND OBSERVATIONS
Erris Chamber of Commerce and the Rural West Environmentalists are calling on An Coimisiún Pleanála to formally notify Fáilte Ireland of the application and invite it to make an observation, given the direct conflict with the Wild Mayo DEDP.
Fáilte Ireland previously opposed wind farm applications on visual impact grounds, including contributing to the refusal of the Gougane Barra wind farm in Co. Cork in May 2024.
Letters have been written to Minister Alan Dillon, Minister Dara Calleary, Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh, the cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, Councillor Seán Carey, and Deputy Keira Keogh, calling for government intervention to ensure the Wild Mayo DEDP is treated as a material consideration by An Coimisiún Pleanála in its determination of the application.
Members of the public may submit observations to An Coimisiún Pleanála at pleanala.ie before July 6 next. Observations can be submitted online or by post. A fee applies for third-party observations on strategic infrastructure developments.