Save Our Scenery Benefit Concerts

donegal | arts and media | event notice Monday June 28, 2010 12:29 by Donegal Alternatives to Pylons - Donegal Alternatives to Pylons donegalatp at gmail dot com

Donegal SOS concerts go from strength to strength in Leo's Tavern, Meenaleck, Crolly, Co. Donegal

Donegal Alternatives To Pylons are pleased to announce that the next in the ‘Save our Scenery’ series of Gigs hosted by Moya Brennan which takes place on June 29th and features Brian Kennedy and Frances Black is aready sold out but that there are still some tickets for the July 1st concert at Leo's Tavern, Meenaleck, Crolly which features Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, Maighréad Ní Dhomhnaill, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Moya Brennan in this unique benefit gig.

Donegal Alternatives to Pylons have been campaigning for over a decade to have a high voltage power line ducted alongside the N56 route instead of being erected over ground across 100 of Donegal’s most scenic townlands, 97 of which are in the Donegal Gaeltacht.

The campaigners have argued from the outset that this power line is not to bring power into Donegal but is to take it out from the many existing and planned wind farms in the county.

The State plans to increase wind energy production in Donegal to 690MW, representing a land grab of 3,000 hectares, virtually every hill top in Donegal, which would badly impact on the local residents and the environment. Donegal already produces more wind energy than any other county at 264MW while many counties, including Dublin, Kildare and Carlow have no wind turbines at all.

‘Dubliners would baulk at the idea of putting wind turbines, taller than the Spike on O’Connell St, in the Phoenix Park. But the Donegal hills are our local amenity and our tourism economy depends on their unique appearance’, Deirdre Brennan, a spokesperson for the group argues.

‘It takes 240 cubic metres of concrete to stabilize each wind turbine. How can digging holes in bog land on top of hills and pouring in thousands of tonnes of concrete be described as 'green'. Indeed the amount of C02 released into the atmosphere when these holes are dug, together with the C02 released when the concrete is manfactured, means that these turbines will never offset the pollution they create. It’s a 'green' fallacy and we cannot allow the ESB, Eirgrid and the wind companies to destroy protected habitats, flora and fauna and endanger our health for profit’.

Alternatives to Pylons is asking 'Why should the largely Gaelic speaking population of South and West Donegal be forced to bear the environmental burden of producing half the projected onshore wind energy in Ireland by 2020? This is an environmental injustice which is illegal under International Law. The human impact is too great for the 15,000 local residents upon whom the power line would directly impact and the many thousands more who will have their land and property devalued by up to 80% by being within view of wind turbines’.

The environmentalists are planning more protests in Donegal and in Dublin and the Save Our Scenery Gigs will continue throughout the Summer at Leo’s Tavern. The Save Our Scenery concerts are ticket only and the €25 tickets are on sale from Leo’s Tavern, Matt Bonners, Bunbeg and Cluain Na dTor Nurseries, Falcarragh or telephone 00353 872701506.