Offaly County Council refuses permission for 11-hectare solar farm at Curraghboy, or Woodfield, Co. Offaly

In context

It is one of 28 solar farm applications Offaly County Council has received in the past twelve months, against 337 nationally. Of the 573 such applications decided by councils in the past three years, 92% were granted.

What happens next

The applicant, or anyone who made a submission on the application, can appeal the decision to An Coimisiún Pleanála within four weeks of 5 February 2026. If no appeal is lodged, the council’s decision stands and a final grant issues.

The development description, as lodged

Verbatim from the Offaly County Council register. This is the source for every figure in the story above.

• 4 no. playing pitches (Pitch 1 and 2: synthetic all-weather playing pitches with floodlighting, and Pitch 3 and 4: grass playing pitches); • 1 no. grass training/warm-up pitch;• A single level facilities building (approximately 865 sq m gross floor space) with rooftop photovoltaic solar panel array (224 sq m) and associated building signage (4.5 sq m), to incl. entrance lobby, function room with servery and reception area, office/meeting room, weight/training room, multipurpose community room, medical/first aid room with toilet, equipment store, 5 no. spectator toilets (3 no. universal accessible), circulation corridor, universal access toilet, universal access change room with shower and toilet, plant room, storage/kit room, 2 no. referee facilities with shower and toilet, 2 no. change rooms with showers and toilets, and 6 no. change rooms with toilets; • 123 no. vehicle parking spaces arranged in 2 no. car parking areas with site lighting (12 no. EV, 6 no. disabled, 105 no. regular), dedicated vehicle set down area, dedicated coach/bus set down area, and coach/bus parking area; and • Hard and soft landscaping (incl. enhanced boundary treatment planting and ecological buffer biodiversity corridors), access road and vehicle circulation, pedestrian walkways, site lighting, services (incl. tertiary waste water treatment system comprising of proprietary secondary wastewater treatment plant with pumped discharged to raised tertiary treatment modules polishing filter bed, and SuDS based surface water management system comprising permeable paving, grasscrete, a series of stormwater bioretention swales/detention basins located on the site, hydrocarbon interceptor, flow control hydrobrake controlled outflow discharge to drainage ditch within site, and ultimately the Gageborough River), and all other ancillary and associated site development works above and below ground level. Access will be via a new vehicular entrance from the L6045 Local Road with associated road upgrade works to accommodate development related traffic movements at this site of approximately 11 hectares