Edel Grace and Peter Sweetman win wind farm appeal hearing

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Edel Grace and Peter Sweetman won permission from the Supreme Court to challenge An Bord Pleanála’s Tipperary wind farm decision, reported on 3 March 2016. The court agreed to consider their appeal after the High Court dismissed their challenge to planning permission for development at Keeper Hill in the Silvermines mountains. Their case raises environmental and public-importance issues, including whether Irish environmental laws require revision after recent Court of Justice judgments.

The applicants sought to quash a 10-year permission granted to ESB Wind Development and Coillte. They allege breaches of the EU Habitats Directive and the EU environmental impact assessment directive, including the loss of about 400 acres of hen harrier foraging habitat. The Supreme Court’s three-judge panel granted permission on several points of law; the board opposed the application.