‘Rights of people are being squashed. It is impossible to take on wind farm firms’

The story of the Harris family highlights the fact that the development of wind farms is subject to few planning checks, writes Michael Clifford

SOME nights, Sean Harris is sitting watching the TV and he thinks he hears the fridge humming.

On other occasions, he has been out on the road around his home in Ballyduff in West Waterford, and the engine sounds as if it’s a car approaching him from behind.

Those are the more benign effects of the Barnafaddock Wind Farm, as he sees it. He is not alone, but neither are his problems shared with huge numbers in his rural community.

In most people’s view, the wind farm is in the mountains and its developer has compensated the community with funds for social and sporting clubs.

Full Story