‘Compelling public issues’ over turbine

A rural community in west Waterford has claimed there are “compelling public issues” which demand a public oral hearing into a wind turbine being erected.

One family living close to an existing turbine, operated by a company which secured planning for a further turbine, said their “lives are blighted with a constant whooshing noise” while bloodstock and family ponies regularly show signs of stress due to noise and flicker.

The claim was made by Margaret Walsh, whose home is just 500m from a turbine at Beallough, Portlaw, where Waterford Council had granted permission to Tornado Electrics Ltd to construct another turbine.