An Bord Pleanála, Ireland’s national independent planning body, has refused planning permission for West Cork Distillers' industrial whiskey maturation warehousing complex in the rural townland of Tullig, near Reenascreena in West Cork.

Tullig and Reenascreena Community Group lodged an appeal with An Bord Pleanála in February 2023, after Cork County Council granted conditional planning permission for the development. Over two years later, on 20 February 2025, group members were celebrating the decision to overturn Cork County Council's ruling and refuse planning permission for the development.

In the Board Order document issued late last week, An Bord Pleanála concurred with sentiments highlighted by residents from the outset. It concluded that the nature and scale of such a development would be inappropriate and unsustainable in this rural area, would endanger public safety on the local road network, and would be "contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area".

The long struggle to oppose the industrial development began way back in July 2021, when West Cork Distillers submitted its first planning application. Nearly four years later, An Bord Pleanála's decision brings both a feeling of jubilation and a palpable sense of relief to the Tullig and Reenascreena community.