Protect the land we love

Another 7 wind turbines are proposed to be built on a mountain above Glencar in Leitrim, which already has been exploited by the wind industry more than any other Irish county.

These turbines would carry the name "Charafenna wind farm"
and would expand and connect with the pre-existing Carrickeeney windfarm, as well as the additional and current proposal for another 18 machines on Dough Mountain to the East.
It would require excavations to create a cable connection across 9 Kilometres of farmland to the electrical substation at Manorhamilton, a significant widening of the high mountain road, the addition of a new circular industrial service road on the top of the mountain, plus 7 additional buildings (one for each turbine).
Each machine would be at least 150m tall and very visible from the head of the Glencar Lake Valley and the world famous Devil’s Chimney waterfall.
They would overshadow a great many residential homes in close proximity as well as their turbary rights on the mountain above, producing severe noise pollution and shadow flicker, devaluation of property and a loss of local jobs in tourism and other fields.
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From this elevation there are magnificent views across the Glencar and Glenade valleys as well as an astounding vista right across Donegal bay to the distant mountains above Killybegs.
Home to hen harriers, barn owls, golden eagles, sparrowhawks, buzzards, kites, grouse, red squirrels, pine martens, hares, bats, foxes, badgers and bees - This is quite simply one of the most pristine places in Leitrim and indeed Ireland.
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And whilst of course the world is in dire need of better solutions to our energy issues, it is easy to understand that this old technology cannot possibly be the best solution.
- Firstly we need widespread education to encourage every household to wake up and cut their own energy usage…there are a myriad of simple ways to do this.
- For energy generation we need to be investing in far more progressive thinking than we currently do - this could perhaps include offshore windfarms instead (although not good for marine life), wave power generation, solar collection and other far less obtrusive and destructive technologies.
- Wind turbines have a life expectancy of approximately 20 years and are not biodegradeable or recyclable. They end up in landfill.
- They create a significant loss of biodiversity - in this case, affecting a rich and specific local fauna which includes rare and protected species.
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When making decisions which directly affect the community, our ancestors traditionally considered the impact upon at least 7 future generations.
Would that we in Ireland were still this wise and forward thinking…
What will our children and grandchildren say about us when they realise that we selfishly made irreversible, ignorant decisions which altered and destroyed the mountains and inhabitants of these very special places?
These lands were beloved of W.B.Yeats, our great poet and thinker, who would surely be turning in his grave to see Glencar progressively overshadowed by major industry?

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In recent years Leitrim County Council has had a history of leniency in its responses to such applications, a stance which now needs to be scrutinised and reevaluated to be in line with the future, not the past.

It is time that our authorities cease to think in purely monetary terms, ticking boxes to benefit themselves and their industral partners, but instead to begin to lead with impeccability and forward thinking so as to leave behind a legacy from which everyone in Ireland may benefit.

Please add your voice and your intent to this petition, so that together we may share and cherish this precious land for many more centuries to come, and wisely show the way into the future for new generations who may better care for it as well as for one another…