Ireland has been fined €5m after the European Court of Justice ruled for the second time that the country is in breach of a directive to carry out an environmental impact assessment for the operational 59.5MW Derrybrien wind farm in County Galway.
The court has also levied a charge of €15,000 per day from delivery of the judgement until the country carries out the study on the project, which has been operational since 2005.
The ruling comes 11 years after a 2008 case in which the court ruled that construction of the wind farm, which included the removal of large areas of forest and the extraction of peat on the Cashlaundrumlahan mountain, caused an “environmentally devastating landslide” in 2003.
Judges ordered Dublin to carry out an environmental review, however, this has not been undertaken.
In the latest case, Brussels rejected arguments put forward by Ireland that it was relying on national provisions limiting its steps to regularise the development.
The court also found that consented projects “cannot be purely and simply deemed to be lawfully authorised as regards the obligation to assess their effects on the environment”.
“In the light of the seriousness and duration of the failure to fulfil obligations, with more than 11 years having elapsed since the 2008 judgment without the measures necessary to comply with that judgment having been adopted, and having regard to Ireland’s ability to pay, the Court ordered Ireland to pay the European Commission a lump sum of €5m.”
The project features 70 Vestas V52 turbines. It is owned by Irish utility ESB.