Residents group in Supreme Court victory concerning wind-farm opposed by Henry Shefflin

Gordon Deegan

A residents group has secured a Supreme Court victory in its battle against a large scale €175 million wind farm opposed by Kilkenny hurling great, Henry Shefflin.

This follows the Supreme Court ruling that Tara Heavey and the Save The South Leinster Way can bring a High Court judicial review challenge against An Bord Pleanála’s green light for the project.

On September 26th 2022, the appeals board gave the go-ahead for the 21 turbine wind farm on a 1,434 hectare site mainly owned by Coillte to the east of the 10-time All Ireland winner’s native Ballyhale in south east Kilkenny.

The Castlebanny wind farm is expected to generate enough clean, green electricity to power the equivalent of around 70,000 homes annually - more than the 68,735 strong housing stock in Co Mayo, according to the latest CSO figures.

The wind farm is a joint venture between FuturEnergy Ireland - made up of Coillte and the ESB - and ART Generation.

Henry Shefflin’s objection was one of around 70 submissions lodged with An Bord Pleanala concerning the contentious Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID) and others to lodge objections include four time All-Ireland winner with Kilkenny hurlers and Ballyhale man, Colin Fennelly and the Save the South Leinster Way Group.

The group had eight weeks in which to lodge High Court judicial review proceedings of the appeals board decision and lodged their papers one day outside the eight weeks, according to the High Court, on Monday, November 21st.

In October 2023, a senior High Court judge, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys ruled the judicial review challenge was one day out of time, commenting "the message to applicants is – try to avoid depleting the energy of the court with this sort of application and instead put in place some kind of margin for error, rather than living for the thrill of a do-or-die scramble to get the last seat on the last helicopter off the embassy roof in Saigon”.

In his ruling, Mr Justice Humphreys stated: "Knocking out an applicant who is a day out seems harsh. But that’s inherent in having any boundary rules on anything."

The objectors to the wind farm appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court has upheld their appeal.

In his written judgement, Mr Justice Maurice Collins found that Save the South Leinster Way and Tara Heavey did have until Monday, November 21st to bring the application for judicial review "and, having brought their application within the prescribed statutory period, are now entitled to have that application adjudicated on its merits”.

Mr Justice Collins stated that he reached his conclusion that the appeal should be allowed "without any sense of regret”.

He said: "The eight week period for bringing an application for judicial review challenging a planning decision is short.”

He said: “In reality, applicants do not have the benefit of that full 8-week period, as that period begins from the date of the decision rather than the date of its notification or publication

Asked to comment on the Supreme Court determination, a spokeswoman for the wind-farm joint venture said: "Springfield Renewables Ltd notes the decision of the Supreme Court in respect to the appeal by Save South Leinster Way with regards to actioning judicial review proceedings within the statutory time period. The case will now be remitted to the High Court.

She said: "We remain fully committed to the proposed Castlebanny Wind Farm project and its potential to contribute significantly to Ireland’s legally binding climate action targets.”

In his original objection against the Castlebanny windfarm, Henry Shefflin told the appeals board that “the residential amenity of my home would be irrevocably compromised by the construction and operation of this wind-farm”.

The three time Hurler of the Year and 11 time All-Star said: “It is proposed that these turbines are up to 185 metres in height. Surely, it is completely unjust and unreasonable for such gigantic moving structures to be placed in such close proximity to people’s homes.”

The Shefflin objection added that “due to the enormous height and number of turbines involved, together with the proposal to build on a ridge, the visual impact of the development would be extensive and would have an extremely negative effect on the surrounding landscape, stretching into neighbouring counties.

Mr Shefflin stated that “the National trail, the South Leinster Way, in particular, would be greatly compromised”.

The objection by Mr Shefflin stressed “I am not opposed to wind energy but I am opposed to wind farms being constructed in unsuitable areas with no concern to the health or well being of local residents.

He said: “The worldwide trend is towards offshore developments where people are not adversely affected in such a devastating way.”