Amid mounting pressure on Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to explain his self confessed involvement in a proposed Doonbeg wind farm planning application, Clare County Council says there are no records of official intervention by Varadkar.
Yesterday, at a meeting between the Irish Taoiseach and the US President Donald Trump in the White House, Varadkar relayed how Mr Trump rang his office in 2014 when he was the then Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.
Mr Varadkar said he received a call by Mr Trump asking for help in regards to a proposed planning application of a wind farm in Doonbeg that would take away from Doonbeg’s landscape and affect his international golf resort.
“So I endeavoured to do what I could do about it and I rang the county council and inquired about the planning permission and subsequently the planning permission was declined and the wind farm was never built,” the Taoiseach said amongst guests.
In October 2014 to his 2.7 million followers at the time, Mr Trump tweeted:
“Great news from Ireland – Clare Co Council has refused to grant permission for a massive wind farm near my hotel and golf course in Doonbeg.”
In a statement released last night, the Council responded by saying “There is no representation by Leo Varadkar, the then Minister for Tourism and Sport, or any Elected Member on this planning file”.
Statement from @ClareCoCo in response to queries received this evening pic.twitter.com/hK4vmcIv8S
— Clare County Council (@ClareCoCo) March 15, 2018
