A plan to develop a wind farm on one of Co Tipperary's most famous mountain landmarks has been rejected by An Bord Pleanála.
The board upheld a decision by North Tipperary County Council to refuse Curraghbristy Wind Farm Ltd permission to erect 12 turbines for a 24mw wind farm spanning six townlands, including the Devil's Bit mountain near Templemore.
The mountain is renowned for its beauty. Local lore has it that the devil bit a massive U-shaped chunk from the mountain and spat it out at Cashel, thus creating the Rock of Cashel.
Refusing permission, the board said that it was council policy to protect a number of views of special amenity value or special interest, as indicated in the area development plan.
"It is considered that the proposal, by reason of its nature and scale and the location of turbines along the ridge of the Benduff, Borrisnoe and Kilduff mountains, adjacent to the Devil's Bit mountain, would interfere with, and detract from, the existing character of the landscape."
The proposed development would be "highly visually obtrusive over a wide area of landscape and would seriously injure the visual amenities of the area". It would therefore "contravene the policy of the planning authority and be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area".
The inspector who compiled a report for the appeal hearing noted that the site included the Devil's Bit. No turbines were planned for the mountain itself, but the existing access track along the Devil's Bit formed part of the application site.
The council had already rejected the application on the grounds that the development was premature, pending adoption of the county landscape character assessment. It said that the environmental impact statement was inadequate, failed to comply with regulations and was not in accordance with draft wind energy guidelines.