Clare Fm - Podcasts

A special meeting of Clare County Council was held yesterday to discuss the draft Chief Executive's Report to be sent to An Bórd Pleanála on the proposed offshore wind turbine development to be constructed off the coast of Clare and Galway. Plans for the 450-megawatt Sceirde Rocks Offshore Wind Farm, which would consist of 30 wind turbines of over 1,000 feet in height 11.5 kilometres from the west coast, were submitted in January of this year. It's expected the "landmark" wind farm would be able to power 350,000 homes, save an estimated 550,000 tonnes of CO2 per year and put €70 million into community initiatives. Following this week's meeting, the comments of Clare's elected councillors will be appended as a submission to the report to be sent to the planning authority. A key talking point of the meeting was finding ways to harness the economic impact of the wind farm. Clare FM's Seán Lyons caught up with a number of those in attendance including Kilrush Independent Councillor Ian Lynch.