Offaly Wind Farm Action Group 'Elated' Over Rejected Plans

The Lemanaghan Bog Heritage and Conservation Group is campaigning against the windfarm project.

Members of the Lemanaghan Bog Heritage and Conservation Group say they are absolutely elated that plans to construct a Wind Farm have been rejected by Offaly County Councillors.

Elected members have delivered a resounding "no" to the proposal of a wind farm at the ancient site.

The Conservation Group who have spent the past five years campaigning to stop the windfarm, attended the monthly meeting where they heard the unanimous decision. 

Three members of the Conservation Group represented Leamanaghan. There are 120 members in the committee.

Kenneth Corcoran from the Group is satisfied with the result "We're delighted that the County Council have noticed the years we spent campaigning and that they have seen the importance of the area and how significant it is to the cultural heritage of Offaly and of the country as well. It's a national monument, it is extremely important culturally and historically and we want to preserve the unique traditions we have in the Leamanaghan area."

Seamus Corcoran from the Leamanaghan Conservation Group said the result shows the importance of the people's voice, "If you heard Councillor Sean O Brien statement today, you could tell it comes from the people because of the amount of detail that we gave him. We're five years at this, so it didn't happen overnight. We just stuck with it. And we got many knocks on the way, we got up again and we kept going.

A community win

Kenneth Corcoran also says "We have a 400-page submission going to An Coimisiún Pleanála, covering every aspect of the Bog, it's artifacts and archaeology. We'll continue campaigning because this is only the first half."

The final decision now rests with An Coimisiún Pleanála, which will review the Chief Executive's report alongside the minutes detailing the council's total rejection and the 400 page submission from the Conservation Group.

Midlands 103's Ann Marie Kelly has been speaking with Cathoirleach John Leahy about why the project was turned down. 

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.