Leitrim community put together war chest to fight the planned wind farm after GoFundMe plea
A North Leitrim Group has raised over €7000 in three days for a war chest to help fund a challenge against a proposed wind farm in their area.
Over the weekend, more than €7,700 was raised to fund a challenge against a proposed wind farm in North Leitrim following a call for help from a local group.
The Save Dough Mountain group put out a call for donations to their GoFundMe on Sunday night to help fund the enlistment of expert help as the group put together a challenge against an application for the Lissinagroagh wind farm.
“It's been heartwarming,“ Said Darren Sweeney, chairperson of the Save Dough Mountain group.
“Heartwarming in one way but also it shows the genuine worry that people have.”
The development, being carried out by FuturEnergy Ireland , would see the construction of 14 wind turbines, each standing at 185 metres tall, between Rossinver and Manorhamilton, which locals feel is unsuitable for the area.
“It's just encouraging that where you feel like you have backup, you're not fighting it on your own,“ said Sweeney, who lives within two Kilometres of the proposed site and who is not surprised by the response of the locals.
“You'd always find that people come out, you know, they kind of stand up.”
With the application deadline fast approaching, on the 10th of July, and a huge amount of work is “going to be right down to the wire,“ according to Sweeney.
The group intends to use the funds to help mount the “strongest objection” to the project by hiring experts to help in areas where the group lacks specialist knowledge.
“We understand because we know the project quite well at this point that it is wholly unsuitable for the location where it's going and we are just trying to take our own knowledge, the knowledge of the experts that we plan to get on board to just highlight that unsuitability to those to the people on the commission.”
FuturEnergy Ireland has said that their application was made following extensive studies from industry experts and environmental specialists.
It also stated that the proposed Lissinagroagh Wind Farm has the potential to produce “local benefits that many community members are keen to see boost the area, including a Community Benefit Fund of an estimated €12.5 million over the lifetime of the project and rates of approximately € 1.2 million to € 1.5 million per annum.
This project would also come with significant employment opportunities and local services supported during construction, secure local energy and a strengthened local electricity grid.”