Irish Examiner view: ESB made a costly mistake with this windfarm

The semi-state body had already racked up more than €17m in fines — and now it has to dismantle the windfarm it built

Onlookers view the devastation in the wake of the landslide at Derrybrien in 2003 which should have been a wake-up call to the ESB. Picture: Ray Ryan

The forced deconstruction of a windfarm on the grounds that its construction was environmentally destructive may seem like someone’s idea of a bad joke but that is exactly the position that the ESB finds itself in relation to Derrybrien windfarm in south Galway. 

The saga in the Sliabh Aughty mountains has been going on for years. While the original owners of the site gained planning permission for the wind farm between 1998 and 2003 when construction began it caused a massive landslide which should have forewarned the ESB that trouble lay ahead.