Ballycar wind farm radar ruling
Deputy Crowe raised an An Coimisiún Pleanála decision on the Ballycar wind farm, where radar interference was cited as a safety issue. The Taoiseach said he was unfamiliar with the specifics and thought the ruling might be confined to that particular case.
There was a recent landmark An Coimisiún Pleanála ruling relating to the Ballycar wind farm in County Clare. The argument centred on whether building the wind farm proximate to a radar installation would make the radar unsafe. It was argued that the flicker - the turning of the turbine blades - would distort the radar and make aviation unsafe. Key to that case were the Irish Aviation Authority, AirNav Ireland and Shannon Airport. They all weighed in objecting to this and it was ultimately proven that it would be unsafe. That was the decision of An Coimisiún Pleanála. There is now a health and safety onus and a moral obligation to ensure that land proximate to wind turbines is dezoned from wind energy to safeguard key national radar infrastructure.
Comment on this
I am not aware of the specifics of that case. It seems a fairly unusual one in terms of the interaction of a potential wind farm with radar. Normally, the aviation authority has a role in housing, for example, close to an airport, which I would be familiar with. It is difficult to understand how things got to the stage they got to. An Coimisiún Pleanála has made its decision but I am not sure it would have as wide an impact across the country as it has had in the specific circumstance the Deputy raised.