Birr Wind Farm opposition meeting called in advance of Planning Application

THE Greater Birr Wind Action Group has called an important public information evening in advance of the submission of a planning application by a major Wind Farm company.
The meeting will take place just outside Birr, in Ballyegan Hall (R42 K002) next Tuesday, February 3rd at 8pm and it will discuss the news that the Wind Farm planning application for the Ballincor area is expected to be submitted in the coming weeks.
The Greater Birr Wind Action Group told The Midland Tribune that the meeting is intended to provide clear information to all in the community before the formal planning process begins.
The proposed development involves 11 industrial scale wind turbines along with associated infrastructure such as access roads, grid connections and construction traffic. While the turbines would be located in the Ballincor locality, the organisers say the scale of the project means its footprint and construction phase could affect a much wider area through traffic movements, road use and landscape change.
“One of the challenges for communities,” the Group said in its statement, “is that planning applications of this nature are often highly technical. Large volumes of documentation are submitted and once an application is lodged, strict statutory timelines apply. These timelines limit the period available for members of the public to review information, seek independent advice and make submissions. Understanding how the planning system operates before an application is lodged helps people engage more effectively and confidently once formal deadlines begin.”
The group says another great challenge is the scale of resources behind a proposed development. Teams of paid consultants, planners, engineers, ecologists and legal advisers will have spent years preparing the application to An Coimisiún Pleanála. Local communities do not have access to that time or those resources.
The group said it recognises the “enormity of the challenge” and points out that meaningful engagement with an application of this size will require “substantial independent professional expertise.” A GoFundMe fundraising link has been established to help resource this work and is available on the Greater Birr Wind Action Group Facebook page.
Ballincor Wind Farm, if granted planning permission, will be constructed adjacent to Sharavogue Bog, a Special Area of Conservation. The Greater Birr Wind Action Group says that Birr town is being “surrounded by turbines even though the area is not designated for wind power by Offaly County Council.”
They say that Birr has been long celebrated as a Georgian gem at the heart of Ireland’s Hidden Heartlands, but it is now under unprecedented pressure from large-scale Wind Farm expansion. In recent years the area has become a focal point for international wind developers, with seven wind farms totalling 72 industrial turbines already granted or operating around the town. Since 2021 alone, Derrinlough (21 turbines), Cush (8 turbines), and Carrig (7 turbines) have secured permission. In late 2025, residents learned of a new proposal for Ballincor Wind Farm, which would construct 11 mega turbines (up to 185 metres) in the Ballincor–Corolanty–Sharavogue landscape.
“Driven by climate-target goals and investor profits,” the Group said, “multinational developers are increasingly turning to Offaly’s boglands, including areas close to Special Areas of Conservation, highly sensitive landscapes and locations explicitly designated as unsuitable for wind farm development. Even when County Councils or An Coimisiún Pleanála refuse permission, these corporations frequently escalate to the High Court, using their vast financial power to push projects through against strong local and expert planning opposition.”
The Group points out that the situation has become so serious that, in July 2025, both the State and An Coimisiún Pleanála were compelled to bring a landmark case to the Supreme Court to defend the core principle of sustainable planning against aggressive legal challenges from wind farm developers.
All of this should be considered in the context of “grossly outdated” 2006 Wind Energy Guidelines. “A new, evidence based version was drafted in 2019 but never enacted, which means that communities must navigate proposed developments in 2025 under planning rules written nearly twenty years ago.”
A spokesperson for the Group told the Tribune that in their opinion Birr now stands on the frontline of this national battle, “and the looming Ballincor–Corolanty– Sharavogue proposal (RWE is the Developer) is the fight our entire community must now take on. If this project is allowed, it won’t be the last — it will be the beginning. One approval becomes justification for the next, and soon the entire area will be treated as open season for more industrial turbines. This is our last chance to stop that tide.”

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