Ivan Has His Terrible Day In Court

A mighty wind…

ollowing his windfall in May after a judicial review settlement against German wind farm group RWE over its offshore project here, local fisherman Ivan Toole wasn’t so lucky this month with Codling.

In fact, in the High Court on Friday 1st, Justice Richard Humphreys said of Toole and his company, Golden Venture Fishing, “It is an understatement to say the applicants have not been completely successful.”

The judge then went on to say, “Indeed, I have already broadly endorsed the opposing parties’ descriptions of some of the applicants’ positions as ‘cynical’ and ‘ludicrous’.”

Seen by some as a money-grab, such judicial reviews highlight the roadblocks facing Ireland’s offshore wind development, with Toole in this case seeking to quash Codling’s foreshore licence and have the court declare all survey data acquired under the licence since then. For their part, Codling did not oppose pausing operations off the coast of Greystones back in August 2023, once Toole progressed the case ‘as expeditiously as possible’.

Over a year later, and Mr Justice Humphreys found Toole’s objections almost entirely without merit, and the stay has now been lifted.

Which will no doubt come as something of a relief for those in vying to develop offshore wind farms in Ireland.

Alice Chambers over in The Currency has delivered a thorough examination of the case here, whilst those with an hour or five to spare can read the court transcript from the day here.