AN Coimiúsin Pleanála (ACP) has confirmed that plans have formally been withdrawn for a €1.4bn wind farm comprising ’30 Eiffel Tower sized turbines’ off the coast of Co Clare and Co Galway.
TV chat-show host and standup comedian, Tommy Tiernan was one of 177 third parties to lodge submissions with ACP on the contentious plan to construct the 450 MW wind-farm with 30 turbines over 1,000 ft high in the Atlantic Ocean.
Fuinneamh Sceirde Teoranta (FST) was planning to construct its Sceirde Rocks wind-farm on waters located 5km to 11.5m km off the west coast with Carna in Galway the nearest settlement.
ACP has now informed Mr Tiernan and those other third parties along with local authorities that FST has withdrawn its planning application.
With the abandonment of the project, FST has forfeited the €35.4m performance security bond it lodged with the Dept of Climate, Energy and the Environment connected to the proposal.
This is in addition to the substantial costs it incurred in preparing the planning documentation which was lodged with the Marine Section of ACP on January 17th last.
In a letter to ACP, director at FST, Sharn Ward stated that representatives of FST and ACP met on December 4th “and FST noted its intention to withdraw the planning application”.
Ms Ward said: “With this letter, FST formally withdraws the planning application.”
Ms Ward said that “by way of background, FST notified the Dept of Climate, Energy and the Environment by letters dated April 25th and May 29th of the cessation of the Sceirde Rocks project”.
Ms Ward said that the full amount of the Offshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (ORESS) security was called by the Dept of Climate, Energy and the Environment and the OSRESS has come to an end.
A spokesman at the Dept of Climate, Energy and the Environment said on Friday that the Sceirde Rocks project was a 450MW offshore wind project that was one of four successful bidders in the Department’s first offshore wind auction in 2023.
He said that the project is owned by Corio Generation, who announced a planned corporate restructuring on April 8th 2025 that would see them focus on a smaller portfolio of projects worldwide.
He said that by letter on April 25th Corio formally notified the Department that the Sceirde Rocks project would not proceed.
“This notification terminated the Department’s ORESS support contract for the project.”
He said that the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment has drawn down the Performance Security of approximately €35.4 million.
He said that the purpose of the performance security, under the terms and conditions of the ORESS 1 auction, was to ensure delivery of the project.
He said: “Under the Terms and Conditions of ORESS 1, abandonment of the project results in forfeiture of the Performance Security. Following abandonment of the Sceirde Rocks project, its performance security was forfeited. There is no provision in the Terms and Conditions for its return.”
He said that the Government remains committed to the development of 5GW of offshore wind capacity, with projects in construction by 2030, and energised as soon as feasible thereafter.
The first of these South Coast DMAP projects, the 900MW Tonn Nua site, which is twice the size of Sceirde Rocks, was the subject of a very successful auction concluded on December 9th 2025, with a joint venture between ESB and Orsted confirmed as the winner.
He said that the Department is making arrangements to bring forward the remaining three sites within the South Coast DMAP, ensuring a consistent pipeline of offshore developments will take place over the coming years.
In his objection to the Sceirde Rock proposal, Tommy Tiernan wrote: “I’m objecting to the proposed off-shore wind farm near Carna, Connemara, County Galway on the grounds of desecration of that area of natural beauty.”
The actor, comedian and podcaster said: “Culture is judged on how it protects areas and ideals such as this. Allowing such a project to go ahead when there are many more suitable sites either much further off-shore or inland would be a totally irresponsible and disgusting thing to do.”
He said: “There has to be more to our country than a utilitarian exploitation of where we live.”
Accounts filed by Fuinneamh Sceirde Teoranta
The accounts show that the company had accumulated losses of €35.93m at the end of March 2024 as the company steered the project during various regulatory hurdles.
