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OFFSHORE WIND FARM locations are to be chosen by the government in the future to protect biodiversity.
Fixed-bottom wind farms need to be built in shallower waters, which has worried some locals about the impact on the coast and biodiversity.
When choosing new locations, the government will “ensure that development takes place with full consideration for the protection of [the] marine environment and biodiversity”.
A spokesperson for the Department of the Environment told us that “all offshore wind projects are required to give careful consideration to the impact of a development on seascape and landscape”.
This change was included in a policy paper in 2023 before all six of the offshore wind farms currently in different stages of development were proposed. The locations for those were chosen by the developers.
The Journal Investigates recently examined who controls this lucrative natural resource and showed how little involvement Ireland actually has at an official level in the projects.
Just two Irish companies hold a significant stake in the six projects currently in the pipeline off our coast.
A large 56-turbine wind farm on the Arklow Bank off Co Wicklow is one such project with no Irish investor.
This plans to generate 800 MW of electricity and is being developed by Scottish energy company SSE plc. That is likely enough to power all the homes in Co Dublin.
The South East Coastal Protection Alliance (SECPA) is arguing that the wind farm will damage the Arklow sandbank, leading to increased coastal erosion as a result of a change to the strong tidal forces.
“It’s going to be devastating to the coastline should the next wind farm go ahead where it’s being proposed,” Michael Higgins, chair of SECPA, told The Journal Investigates.
They are not opposed to renewable energy but want the development to be located further out to sea.
SECPA claims that by moving the wind farm further out to sea, the sandbank and the marine life it supports will be protected.
The group is also part of a wider alliance of other campaign groups under the umbrella of Blue Ireland. This organisation is seeking to prevent offshore wind farms from being situated in what they call “environmentally inappropriate locations”.
The problem with these locations is that “near-shore habitats are extremely biodiverse, and therefore very important for biodiversity”, Valerie Freeman, Blue Ireland’s founder told us.
“By disturbing these ecosystems, they are going to decimate the coastline,” she said.
As part of the planning process for phase two of the Arklow Bank, SSE submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR) which found that the impact on the seabed and coastal morphology was “not significant/slight”.
A spokesperson for SSE said that “the EIAR provides an accurate description of the project and a scientific, fact-based assessment of potential environmental impacts of the development”.
When asked about developments near to the coast, a Department of the Environment spokesperson said that “as you move out from shore, Ireland’s seabed depth increases very quickly and is not suitable for fixed-bottom turbines”.
We recently investigated who controls Ireland’s offshore wind. Spoiler: It’s not Irish companies. Read our findings >>
Reporter: Conor O’Carroll • Editor: Maria Delaney • Main Image Design: Lorcan O’Reilly
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Makes you cry. Govt body keeping secrets, from the public.
@micheal duff: fix the pipes with your billions instead of spending on useless things.
hello ??.. ah yes there is nobody home… too busy with with rights and speech.
@micheal duff: I wonder Buster do the people you steal their profile picture know you use them on this site with your multiple profiles?
@micheal duff: so basically Journal Investigates in conjunction with Irish Water need to build a case for water levies directly on households and needs to build evidence through consumer complaints of unsustainable infrastructure in order to build that case to Gov, for to make another push to further this agenda.
Why didn’t the TDs and councillors direct their constituents to make a direct complaint? In fairness, everyone should know to make a complaint to the responsible entity – TD/councillor should only be a last resort. €30 compensation is an absolute insult and doesn’t even cover the time to make & follow up on the complaint. The attempt to block the foi request was equally pathetic – how can a state/semi state body claim that reporting the truth might be a bad thing? This country has really gone downhill.
@Social Guy: because once elected that was not their problem. not once they even made a statement about all that. they were forming a big gvt and got and still busy with speech rights and look after themselves. MM love nothing else to lecture everyone on international politics but never cared about the people. neutrality is not a concern either for him
@Social Guy: that’s how “national” politics work in this country… The gombeen way: fix the potholes and attend funerals.
I even know of a foreign (European) national getting his local TD to contact his embassy in Dublin to expedite a passport renewal. Seriously?
@Social Guy: Agree, but would like to add, 1) TD’s & local councillors more than likely don’t/didn’t know about the €30 compensation scheme, 2) people are getting lazy. If they can get someone else to complain on their behalf, it make life easy for them. The time it took to send a letter/email, or indeed, make an appointment to see their local government representative, they would have had a communication sent of to the company.
Just more fffg bolicitics. People, please relise fffg are a failure. They don’t care. It’s not rocket science.
@Paul Gorry: If they were a failure and the people realised it, how are they now in government again? Must be that people voted for them.
@Eoin McCarthy: No shi,t sherlock.
@Eoin McCarthy: people of this country are its own worst enemy…
Irish Water does not have customers. It is a state-owned Dept. Very unusual article. Because it’s a state owned dept, surely going your local representative is the correct move?
@pat fogarty: It’s not a department. It is a private company with the state as its largest shareholder. Company number 530363 (CRO).
@Stephen Fitzgerald: yes you are correct for the most part. Except for the “the state is its largest shareholder” don’t want to not pick but I think is important for everyone to know.
This is copied directly from Irish waters website on corporate governence –
“The shareholders of Uisce Éireann are the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and, on that basis, Uisce Éireann is a state-owned entity.”
So, the ONLY shareholders in uisce eireann are state bodies.
Ireland needs its very own DOGE, I can just imagine what corruption would come to light.
@Pelagius Asturias: never going to happen unfortunately
Our water filtration company from Wexford has proven in a year long pilot in Canada to prevent the carcinogenic chemical THM from forming in potable water.
In 2017 a prime time report stated over 170,000 people in Ireland were drinking water Exceeding the 100U/gl WHO guidelines for THM
After 7 months of paperwork we were granted a Zoom call with Uisce Éireann.
We offered to run a free pilot on any water treatment plant that was failing THM guidelines.
We were told that our proven filtration system would not work on THM’s in Ireland ?
They would not be taken us up on the offer of a free trial ?
We have offered free trials to Uisce Éireann on manganese and iron removal from potable Water which we have a proven to have a 90% reduction using our filtration system.
No reply to date?
@Les Walsh: that’s just weird and needs investigation
and Who set up Irish Water? TD’s and Senators along with the President signing stealth tax legislation on already crippled taxpayers.
In other words, ‘we don’t want people to know how big a problem it is because then they will know how big a problem it is’. Honestly, is there a single thing the government does well?
ireland + pharmaceutical =Dark waters
How can you get compensation for something you don’t pay for
@Max: I’m afraid that’s the country we live in now, want everything for nothing and compo for everything
@Martin Kenny: Guess you are retired with a good pension and maybe have a bit of property?
@donal finn: no, but please explain your reasons for that assumption
@Max: exactly.
@Martin Kenny: well said.How people come up with these assumptions is beyond me.Even if you were retired on a big pension and had property what has that got to do with it.
@Max: it’s long been established that we do pay for it through general taxation including, strangely ill admit, car tax….where do you think their funding comes from, the magic money tree…
@Max: you are entitled a good standard of customer service , which is in their charter. If they fail they pay.
@Max: if they failed to deliver proper customer service they pay.
Customers
Journal ‘reporter’? That’s a laugh. Get a proof reader while you are at it. FFG mouthpiece.
Is our water save to Drink ? is the question I want answered. I started drinking water from a “spring well” that is running constantly for the past few months and just the other day at work, I decided to get water from the cooler. Well, could I taste the difference. I thought I was back in the swimming pool where I swallowed the water there. OMG, is this safe I said to myself. 1st person I went to was one of our colleagues who is pregnant. Told her to stop drinking this water immediately and gave her directions to get the spring water to drink in future.
SSE Airtricity gas and electricity should be next up for an investigation into their so called customer service.
have your say