The story of the Harris family highlights the fact that the development of wind farms is subject to few planning checks.

Planning regulation and inspection around wind- farms is expected to come under further scrutiny following claims that a wind- farm in Co Waterford was built with larger blades than allowed for.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

A major wind farm straddling the uplands of the Cork-Kerry border, across 32 townlands, has been given the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanála.

The way has been cleared for the development of a wind farm after the Court of Appeal rejected a challenge to planning permission centring on concerns for a “critically endangered” freshwater pearl mussel.

TWO birds we remember from days in the bog, many years ago, we rarely see now. 

After a heavy downpour here in the upper Bandon river valley, every hill stream starts thundering downwards.

Size: 2,717/2,879 sq ft

The army has unveiled its first €1m computerised firing range which will make a camp in Co Cork one of its finest and busiest training centres.

NO road tax. No costly NCT, and you can repair a puncture yourself. Cycling is cheap, reliable transport, perfect for negotiating a city.

THIS walk is best enjoyed in summer. These recent weeks, wildflowers are everywhere along the paths in Garretstown woods. Most are at their best this week. In late May, the bluebells were a little faded, but those growing in shade were a vivid, gentian blue.

Blarney Golf Resort’s new owner was also the buyer of Co Tipperary’s 1,200 acre Kilcooley estate, the Irish Examiner has learned.

The European Central Bank is still under the impression that the Irish forestry body, Coillte, will be privatised as part of the troika programme for government.

There is a belief, seemingly shared by An Taoiseach, that the 400kV GridWest project proposed by Eirgrid, aka ESB national grid, will bring much-needed electrical power to Co Mayo.

IT WAS daunting. The assembly of a 500km route over mountains, bogland, fields, across rivers and through towns and villages took years.

IT IS over 100 years since the peninsula curve and wooded hill at Currabinny was colonised with large homes for Cork’s merchant classes. Many served for years as summer and second homes, but now, the area’s very much a year-round community, at a sublime Cork harbour setting.

A gun club has been granted planning permission to transform six acres of woodland into a nature reserve which, when completed, will be accessible to the public.

Permission has been granted for a large windfarm on the Cork-Limerick border which will be run by ESB Wind Development.

A battle to keep Coillte in public ownership has stepped up a gear as a cross-section of interest groups called on the Government not to sell the asset.

American inspired five-bed property close to Lissarda still has an Irish feel, writes Tommy Barker

Two community groups in Co Cork have expressed concern that “fish before people” red tape may prevent vital flood prevention works.

HOW wonderfully a day of sunshine transforms the world, and ourselves.

TULLIG, WEST CORK €195,000

A WISE man of our acquaintance, who’s as healthy as a proverbial trout, made a sweeping statement the other day.

Sinn Féin is calling on the Government to halt the sale of state assets that are vital to the economy.

Bones buried in a plastic bag in a Wicklow mountain forest are believed to be those of a Romanian teenager missing for four years.

IRISH DISTILLERS is shortly expected to announce the creation of a large number of jobs as part of a multi-million euro expansion of its processing plant in Midleton, Co Cork.

IT’S not so long since Irish people thought trees were for the birds — a century ago, a miserly 1% of our land had trees on it, the nadir of 1,000 years of plundering and chopping for which we can blame the Vikings, the Normans, the English and ourselves.

TIME may be running out for Tim McNulty’s rivals to thwart his bid for the Dunlop National Rally Championship title.

TIMBER prices have rebounded from the low levels of Ireland’s construction crash and are likely to stay strong for the next decade, says a leading forestry expert.

BOOMING exports of Jameson whiskey have prompted Irish Distillers to announce a €100 million investment in its production facilities in east Cork.

WOMEN made up less than one third of the estimated 4,500 appointments to state boards during Fianna Fáil’s reign in government.

FOLLOWING large-scale destruction of the countryside by fires, last year, action is being taken to prevent a recurrence before the annual gorse- burning gets underway.

A massive surge in forest fires sparked by rogue landowners and fly-tippers is costing taxpayers millions of euro, authorities warned today.

A FEW days ago I happened to be driving along a small road in the limestone uplands of north Cavan, close to the Fermanagh border.

Over 180 events were taking place all over the country today to celebrate National Trails Day 2010.

MORE than 180 events are taking place throughout the country tomorrow to mark National Trails Day.

GARDAÍ are trying to trace the owners of valuable stolen copper cable which was discovered in dense woodland on the Cork/Limerick border yesterday morning.