We thank the committee for meeting our group. We will get straight into action by showing a video. With the permission of the Chairman, I will talk the committee through it. At its widest, the landslide is about 300m wide. A 100m wide section of an internal roadway on the wind farm was swept away. A smaller landslide occurred about a month before the main one. It was down to luck that it did not expand and create the same problems the larger one created. An excavation for a base took place at the top of the slide. The slide followed the course of a stream and a river.
I thank the committee for meeting with us today and allowing us to outline our position on the landslide that occurred on 16 October. We requested a hearing from the committee in order to seek an independent investigation into the planning and political processes relating to this wind farm development. Having conducted some research, we understand the committee is interested to establish where proper planning procedures and criteria were adhered to, and the nature of the social and environmental consequences of the disaster.
I will now refer to the Derrybrien wind farm project timeline. As members can see, the planning process commenced in 1997 when Galway County Council granted Saorgas Energy permission for two phases of this development. While the community group appealed the council decision to An Bord Pleanála, that organisation upheld the council decision. The application for the grid connection was granted. However, Galway County Council refused an application for a third phase. An AER V contract was given for the wind farm development. Correspondence between Saorgas Energy and Galway County Council sought change in turbine sizes. A formal planning application to change the size and type of turbine was lodged and the council approved it. Saorgas Energy and Hibernian Wind Power, a subsidiary of ESB, negotiated a sale in 2003.
Work started on the site on 2 July 2003. Around this time, Saorgas Energy received an AER VI contract from the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. The grant of planning was running out on two of the sites that had received permission in 1997. Saorgas sold the project to Hibernian Wind Power as an independent project called Gort Windfarms. Planning expired on 11 October 2003. The bog slide occurred on 16 October 2003 and Galway County Council granted an extension of time on 24 November 2003. As stated in our letter to the secretary to the committee, Mr. Brian Hickey, the landslide occurred on 16 October last, resulting in the movement of 450,000 cubic metres of peat. It caused a major fish kill, widespread concern in the community, environmental damage, road closures and contamination of water supplies. We may refer to the document although we will not repeat everything in it.
An extremely serious issue is raised in the last paragraph of document No. 2, which is a Galway County Council document. It states that the council met again with the management of Hibernian Wind Power and its related ESB companies on 6 November 2003. The council advised it that the preliminary findings of BMA GeoServices were that the ground conditions which exist in the area in which the landslide occurred on 16 October are replicated in a number of other areas on this site and that these areas require their immediate attention, which point says much about this issue.
Document No. 3 illustrates that the preliminary report of the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board states that a major fish kill occurred, the knock-on effect of which was the killing off of food for fish and the area's biodiversity along with the destruction of the spawning beds, which is a major issue for the future in regard to whether the river will restock itself with wild brown trout.
The Irish Peatland Conservation Council issued a press release which makes known its views of the effects of this type of activity on upland blanket bog. As we have seen to our cost, much of what it said has come true.
The three phases outlined are as follows: phase 1 ^ 97347023 turbines; phase 2 97365223 turbines; and phase 3 ^ 00458125 turbines. Phases 1 and 2 were granted permission by Galway County Council and phase 3 was refused. However, An Bord Pleanála granted permission for all three phases with what we describe as totally inadequate environmental impact statements. To our knowledge, no geo-technical surveys were carried out on any part of this 850 acre site. This underlines the seriousness of the situation. A survey was carried out by Michael Punch, an engineering company in Limerick, which showed that the area was seriously unstable and it had to abandon its archaeological survey, which is another serious issue.
Document No. 5 comprises pages from the environmental impact assessment in which a number of issues come to light and will give members an idea of the effects of the project on the environment, the rocks and the soil. There was no expectation that this type of event would happen and no proper research or investigations were carried out in this area even though the depth of blanket bog was 1.5 to six metres deep.
This environmental impact statement does not comply with EIA Directive 85/337/EEC, as amended by Directive 97/11/EEC. This was clearly pointed out by the planner in Galway County Council, who refused planning permission. In document No. 5 is Galway County Council's decision on the planning application. It states: "An EIS has been submitted with the application which is not of very good quality, is poor in detail and is very [I cannot make out the word] in relation to the effects of the development on the area". It refers to the quarry in the area and that it is a reinstatement as it is considered a temporary quarry. This is something which could be further perused but there is no point going into detail at this stage.
The planner who examined this site felt it constituted over-development and that the best thing to do was to proceed with 46 turbines and see what the effect would be on the area. He also felt the EIS was inadequate.
This site was the trigger for the landslide in the area. The local community, along with Dúchas, highlighted this danger among the other concerns we had at the time. To be fair, none of us thought that such a major landslide would occur. Dúchas wrote:
The information provided in the EIS for these proposals was insufficient to allow for a proper assessment of the potential impacts of these developments on the nearby Lough Cutra special protection area for the protection of wild birds and their habitat and on the candidate special area of conservation, No. 252, the Coole-Garryland complex.
There are potential negative impacts on these sites from the peat silt emanating from the works and entering the catchment of these lakes. More specific information regarding the mitigation measures to avoid siltation impacts is required.
Peat poses a threat to the flora and fauna of the streams and rivers in the catchment of these developments. They should be checked for Margaratifera margaratifera, and freshwater pearl mussels, a species protected under the Wildlife Act 1976 and which is also in annexe 5 of the EU habitats directive.
We also require information regarding birds of prey, in particular the hen harriers in order to allow for a proper assessment of the potential impacts.
We feel that our concerns were not properly addressed or were in fact ignored in respect of a letter which I posted to the enforcement officer on 29 July and I remind the committee that the construction work started on 2 July. I wrote that I had made several unsuccessful attempts to contact the officer since our telephone conversation on 24 July. In my letter I stated:
As you are aware from my initial contact with you on 16 July I am requesting information from the planning section of Galway County Council as to whether or not development works adjacent to windfarm sites at Derrybrien North, Toormacnevin and Bohaboy are authorised or unauthorised.
I added that it was my understanding that Galway County Council and An Bord Pleanála decided to "grant permission for the said development in accordance with the said plans and particulars subject to the conditions specified in the second schedule". I asked the enforcement officer if he could clarify whether the entry and exit roadway under construction approximately two kilometres north of the original access roadway, the quarry in operation and the site compound were authorised, and what was the status of the five year grant of permission - we already know the answer to that.
I also asked the following questions. What steps had been taken to monitor the water quality before and since construction and had the developers requested changes to roadways, control house or turbine locations since the grant of permission? Had the survey of hen harriers been properly undertaken and who was monitoring the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of excavated peat and rock which would be disturbed during construction? Was there a qualified archaeologist at all times on the site? Had the roads and bridges been upgraded where necessary? I felt the integrity of the planning and democratic processes was at stake and that it was critically important that the openness, transparency and accountability principles be rigidly adhered to. That letter was registered and to date we have not received any response.
Liam Gavin, the senior engineer with Galway County Council, wrote to Mary Nolan of Hibernian Wind Power on 9 October requesting information about a bond which was to have been lodged with the local authority prior to commencement of the work. This bond was intended to reinstate the site if it failed for any reason. It is extremely serious that the development went ahead without this bond being in place.