Doubts have been cast over the future of the €60 million wind farm development in south Galway, following a decision by the European Commission to investigate the project's environmental impact statement.
The European Commission's environment directorate said yesterday that it would be examining the environmental impact statement and whether there was any link between work on the 60 megawatt wind farm and the landslide which occurred at Derrybrien, Co Galway, last October.
Significantly, the directorate also said that it would concerned about any resumption of work on the project if a link was established which might pose a further risk to residents and the environment.
The move follows a meeting between environment directorate officials and the residents of Derrybrien in Brussels yesterday.
The Derrybrien Landslide Action Group lodged a complaint with the European Commission over the wind farm project last November, after last October's landslide closed local roads and polluted the Lough Cutra river system.
The cause of the slide has not yet been determined, but the residents believe that the work on the wind farm project was directly to blame.
Two separate reports on the situation are being prepared for the ESB subsidiary and project developer, Hibernian Wind Energy, and Galway County Council, respectively.
A spokesman for Hibernian Wind Energy said yesterday that it did not "accept nor deny" that the wind farm was responsible, and any decision on the project's future would only be taken after the two reports had been published.
The spokesman said that it had not been informed of any decision from Brussels about the project.
All work on the 60 megawatt wind farm has been suspended since the blanket bog and mud slid over two kilometres through a Coillte forest.
The residents claim the developers did not comply with planning conditions attached to the project. Represented by Mr Martin Collins and Mr James Curley, they told the European Commission's environment directorate yesterday that the environmental impact statement prepared for the project was deficient, as it lacked a full geotechnical survey as required by an EU directive.
The residents said the only element of geotechnical investigation available was an archaeology report, a survey for which had to be suspended because the ground in the area was found to be unstable.
Commenting after the meeting, Mr Collins, chairman of the action group, said he was "very happy" with the meeting and with the directorate's decision to investigate the environmental impact statement.
