Mick Clifford: Political inaction responsible for the noise around our archaic wind farm rules

While excuses have been offered as to why wind energy regulations have not been updated, it’s hard to argue that political cowardice isn’t the cause

The noise generated by the wind turbines is one of the main elements of the guidelines, along with setback distances — how far a turbine must be located from the nearest domestic residence — and shadow flicker, which is an effect of the light as the result of the rotating turbine blades. File photo

Today a representative group of up to 40 communities will protest at the Dáil over the siting of, and conditions for, wind farm development. 

All of the communities have issues over the development of wind farms in their locality. Whether all those concerns are valid, or would stand up to legal or regulatory scrutiny, is a matter that can be decided by courts and planning authorities.