They tossed trees, felled poles, smashed roofs - and the successive tempests that swept over the country in the past week certainly increased the sale of candles in some parts of the west. But a storm force wind doesn't have to mean power blackouts.
Renewable energy experts prefer to see wind as a valuable electricity source that is largely untapped. Six years after the State's first wind farm - or group of wind turbines - opened at Bellacorick, Co Mayo, renewable energy of all sorts still amounts to only 2 per cent of total production in Ireland. This in spite of the initiation of the Alternative Energy Requirement (AER) tendering system for new sources of energy for the ESB . . . and the fact that this island has some of the highest wind velocities in Europe.
Recently, when the third phase of AER was announced, there was considerable interest in the final list in a small community in south Galway. Derrybrien is a little hamlet on the south-facing slopes of the Slieve Aughty mountains. It has 40 houses, 100 residents, and farming and forestry are its main livelihoods. Wind farming has been suggested as a viable economic enterprise.
"And we were very interested," says Martin Collins, a farmer and chairman of the Derrybrien and District Concerned Residents' Group. "We could see how forestry was beginning to threaten the village's very existence, and we missed out on a proposed wood processing factory for the region."
It could have been an opportunity at the right time. Many farmers in Denmark now depend for their livelihoods on wind, and the industry there employs 12,000 people. It has also developed offshore. Greenpeace recently suggested that Ireland could generate more than 15 times its electricity needs from offshore wind farms and the Government has commissioned consultants to examine the potential of sites at sea.
Three sites in south Galway have been earmarked for AER consideration - two by the Kerry consultancy, Saorgus Energy Ltd, and one by the Larne, Co Antrim company, B9 Energy Services. If favoured next time round, there could be a total of 69 wind turbines, mainly on high remote bogland some distance from the village - making it one of the largest wind farming areas in Europe. Galway County Council has already granted permission for the development.
But not everyone in Derrybrien is happy - and an appeal was lodged with An Bord Pleanala after the council gave its support. Last month the appeals board upheld the local authority's decision.
Martin Collins, who was one of the original supporters, was the driving force behind the appeal. The genuine concerns of people in Derrybrien were never addressed, he says.
His residents' group cites the visual impact as one of the main objections and criticises the lack of economic benefit to the local community. The Slieve Aughty mountain region has been designated as a high scenic amenity area in the county development plan, he says. "The local community, which is already under siege from forestry, will not gain from this," he says.
"Our group is not opposed to renewable energy production, but we are strongly opposed to the economic exploitation of rural Ireland and its people by huge multi-million pound investors," his group says in a statement. Large-scale wind farms should be offshore, and there should be a policy to encourage small-scale, community-based farms inland, the group maintains.
Mr Collins acknowledges that he does not speak for all of the community, and that there are residents who want the wind farm. While Coillte has negotiated the sale of two of the sites, the third is on commonage owned by seven local landowners - one of whom recently withdrew his support. "It is that sort of split that makes us even more upset," Mr Collins says.
"This has been presented to us as Government policy in which we have little or no say. We were never told about the negative aspects. But if it is so clean, why are wind turbines not allowed on Special Areas of Conservation or Natural Heritage Areas, where wildlife has to be protected?"
The Irish Energy Centre acknowledges that wind turbines have a visual impact on the landscape, but this does not have to be negative with careful design and location. Recently, An Taisce called for a national planning strategy on wind farm construction, given that the aim is to supply 10 per cent of national electricity from renewable source by 2010.
Birdwatch Ireland, which supports wind farms in principle, also warned of "storms brewing" on some sensitive upland areas, notably in Donegal, Tipperary and Wexford.
Saorgus Energy Ltd says the site at Derrybrien would supply 100,000 people - the fossil fuel equivalent of 20,000 tons of oil a year. It has approached residents to set up local energy co-ops, which would promise a return to local stakeholders. But in any case, there are no immediate plans to go ahead, as Derrybrien was not earmarked in the last AER tranche.
Mr Mike Barry of Saorgus prefers to emphasise the positive national environmental dimension. Every unit of electricity produced from wind, rather than fossil fuel, prevents significant emissions of carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides - the gases that cause global warming, acid rain and air pollution. As for offshore farms, the technology will have to be improved to make it economically viable, he says - the Atlantic is not a millpond like the Baltic. And there is another national aspect - of interest to beleaguered farmers seeking alternative sources of income. "If the Danes can do it, why can't we?"
