€30m windfarm plan rejected

Planning permission has been refused for a giant €30m windfarm with turbines that stretch up to 500ft high.

The planned turbines, at Electric Ireland’s coal-burning power station at Moneypoint, would have been more than 100ft higher than Dublin’s stainless steel Spire.

Clare County Council refused planning for the five 500ft turbines on the grounds of impact on the adjoining Shannon estuary, which contains the largest resident bottlenose dolphin population in Europe.