Congratulations to your correspondent Dick Keane for telling the truth about the madness of windfarms (Letters, January 8).
Here in the lovely valley of Slievenamon in south Tipperary, we have been battling for almost two years to keep these hideous eyesores, which create a pittance of electricity, off our ancient landscape.
Trendy Dublin greens would label us members of the Nimby (not in my backyard) brigade, but before we blindly sacrificed our countryside to house these giant, industrial machines, we did our homework.
I’m sure if they were faced with similar plans for some of their precious landmarks like Killiney Hill or Howth Head, they would do the same.
We discovered that despite the construction of more than 6,000 wind turbines in Denmark, causing untold damage to that country’s coastline, not one fossil fuel plant has shut down.
We learnt that because of the intermittency of wind, conventional plants have to keep running at full capacity and cannot simply be turned on and off as the wind dies and rises.
And we spoke to other communities all around Ireland, on the Continent and in the United States who live in the shadow of wind farms about the appalling damage they have caused to their quality of life, scenery and local wildlife.
If the Green Party is determined to follow in the footsteps of Denmark and cover our beautiful Irish hills and coastlines with these highly inefficient money wasters, surely they should build them in the city that uses the most power.
If they’re good enough for Slievenamon, they’re good enough for Minister Gormley’s political heartland along the leafy, millionaire avenues of Dublin 4, so let’s see the bulldozers move into Ailesbury Road and Herbert Park as well.
MAIREAD SHEEHAN
AHENNY, CO TIPPERARY
11 January 2008
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/01/11/objecting-to-an-ill-wind-of-change/