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A High Court judge has dismissed a legal challenge against a €175 million wind farm in Co Kilkenny, likening the persistent objectors to a dogged Japanese soldier still fighting decades after surrender. Judge Richard Humphreys ruled that while errors were found regarding environmental objectives for the kingfisher and freshwater pearl mussel, they were harmless and did not warrant quashing the planning permission granted four years ago. The decision upholds the approval for the 21-turbine Castlebanny project, which was supported despite opposition from local residents including former hurler Henry Shefflin.
A High Court judge has compared court objectors against a €175 million wind farm in Co Kilkenny to “the dogged Japanese soldier still fighting World War II in the Philippine jungle, decades after everyone else has admitted defeat”.
Judge Richard Humphreys made his comment when dismissing the High Court bid by Save the South Leinster Way and writer Tara Heavey to quash An Coimisiún Pleanala’s decision to grant planning permission for the 21-turbine wind farm at Castlebanny four years ago. The planning commission granted leave in September 2022 despite opposition from local residents, which included 10-time All-Ireland-winning hurler Henry Shefflin.
The recently appointed Kilkenny senior hurling manager was one of 70 parties to make submissions when the case was before the planning commission in 2021-22. The applicants’ challenge has been before the courts for almost four years after the launch of a High Court judicial review application in November 2022.
In the new ruling, Humphreys has refused to quash the grant of permission for the wind farm despite finding in favour of the objectors’ grounds of challenge concerning objectives relating to the freshwater pearl mussel and the kingfisher. However, he has found that the opposing parties in the case, the planning commission and Minister for the Environment, have established that the errors concerning objectives for the kingfisher and the freshwater pearl mussel were “harmless”.
Humphreys said that discretion weighs decisively against the quashing of the grant of permission here, particularly due to the harmlessness or lack of effect of the error. On the issue of harmless error, Humphreys said that “generally speaking it would trivialise judicial review and be an exercise in self-indulgence to quash decisions because of things that make no difference”.
The wind farm scheme by Springfield Renewables Ltd is a joint venture between FuturEnergy Ireland – comprising Coillte and the ESB – and ART Generation. In a new 41-page written judgment on the legal challenge, Humphreys said “the applicants began this case scrambling for the last seat on the last helicopter off the embassy roof in Saigon, by lodging their papers on the last possible day”.
In a previous judgment in October 2023, Humphreys made his initial “Saigon” comment when ruling the judicial review challenge was one day out of time. However, the applicants were subsequently successful in a Supreme Court challenge where the court ruled that the judicial review application was made within time and the case was remitted back to the High Court.
In October, 2025, Humphreys dismissed the challenge apart from several core grounds, including the mussel and kingfisher, pending the outcome of a separate case. Now, in refusing the applicants’ challenge, Humphreys said that the applicants “end like the dogged Japanese soldier still fighting World War II in the Philippine jungle, decades after everyone else has admitted defeat”.
Kilkenny Wind Farm High Court Ruling Planning Permission Judicial Review Environmental Law
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