News from down the country

national | environment | news report Wednesday February 18, 2009 23:44 by Contaminated Crow

Two landfills, two incinerators, a sewage plant, two telemasts, a windfarm, a metal recycling plant, an industrial site, Tara and a county council depot

(Apologies for the delay in posting last week's news: I was 'down the country' myself and unable to do the work.)

More than 250 people attended a meeting in Mountmellick, Co. Laois, last Monday to call for the closure of the Kyletalisha landfill outside Port Laoise, at which claims were made that the landfill was associated with local cancer clusters and dangerous gases, while the local monitoring committee was being deliberately kept in the dark and incidents reported to Laois County Council were not passed on to the EPA. (Laois Nationalist 13/2/09, p.1).

Some 200 people attended a public rally in Carraroe, Co. Galway last Sunday calling for the relocation of a proposed sewage treatment plant from the pier at An Sruthan. The following Tuesday members of the local Pier Development Committee met Department of the Environment officials in Leinster House: a spokesperson said they succeeded in presenting their concerns to the officials, while stressing the opposition was not to the sewage treatment plant but to its location. (Connacht Tribune 13/2/09, p. 2).

This week Cavan Better Waste Management (CBWM) is to deliver its detailed objections to Oxigen Environmental Limited’s application to the EPA to process up to 200,000 tonnes per annum of waste next to Corranure landfill in Cavan. The objection will be accompanied by 2,000 signed petitions. (Anglo-Celt 12/2/09, p.7)

The decision by An Bord Pleanala to reject requests for costs at the aborted hearing into College Proteins’ proposed incinerator at Nobber, Co. Meath, has angered local residents but, according to North East Against Incineration spokesperson John Keegan, it has increased their resolve: ‘Over 170 people sent in submissions to Bord Pleanala and we intend to double that if a new application is made’. (Meath Chronicle 14/2/09, p.4).

Around 60 people attended a public meeting last week in Annascaul, Co. Kerry, to discuss An Bord Pleanala’s overturning Kerry County Council’s refusal of a 15-metre Eircom telemast. Local counciller Seamus Cosai Fitzgerald told the meeting that An Bord Pleanala had overturned over 30 similar county council planning refusals for telemasts in Kerry, adding ‘The cheapest route to blocking this mast is a physical blocking by the local people or try to get the mast relocated to a site at Lougher. I would support you in the physical blocking of the work on the site.’ (Kerryman (sic) 11/2/09, p.8)

Local residents expressed delight at the decision by An Bord Planala to refuse permission to Energy Answers International to build a 250 million Euro incinerator near Kill, Co. Kildare which had been opposed by a campaign organized by Rathcoole Against Incinerator Dioxins (RAID). (Leinster Leader 12/2/09, pp.1,2).

Cork County Council decided this week to recommend to An Bord Pleanala that it should refuse permission for Indaver’s proposed hazardous and non-hazardous waste incinerator in Cork Harbour. (Corkman (sic), 12/2/09, p.16).

The Irish Peatland Conservation Council (IPCC) has joined local East Clare residents in raising objections to a proposed eight-turbine windfarm at Tulla, Co. Clare, warning that the development could affect the hydrology, biodiversity and habitat of Glendree Bog Special Area of Conservation. (Clare People 10/2/09, p.26).

A proposed 15-metre Eircom telemast for Cloghinch, near Templederry, Co. Tipperary was refused permission by An Bord Pleanala after planning permission granted for the mast by North Tipperary County Council was appealed to An Bord Pleanala. (Tipperary Star 14/2/09, p.1.20).

An Bord Pleanala has refused Eircom permission to erect a 15-metre (50 feet) telemast in Ballymote, Co. Sligo after Eircom appealed a Sligo County Council decision to refuse planning permission last June. (Sligo Weekender 10/2/09, p. 12).

A meeting last week attended by over 100 people from the Ballybrittas and Emo area heard angry exchanges between concerned members of the public and the proposers of a metal recycling plant at Ballybrittas, Co. Laois. The meeting’s chairperson, Anne Burke, said the meeting was called to air local concerns over the effects of the proposals by A1 Metal Recycling, which another organizer of the meeting, John Crowley, said was a subsidiary of investment company One51, ‘a spin off of IAWS co-op’. (Laois Nationalist 13/2/09, p.3).

During discussions at a meeting of Clare County Council last week regarding proposals to remove restrictions on activities that could be carried out at the former Burlington factory at Gillogue, Clonlara, Councillor Cathal Crowe claimed pressure was put on him to change his stance to support the change in zoning: ‘I was intimidated. Calls were made to me. I was told that a PR company would tear me to shreds. It was disgraceful.’ It was also alleged another councillor, Pascal Fitzgerald, who was unable to attend the meeting was also pressurized to change his position on the issue. (Clare Champion 13/2/09, p.5; Clare People 10/2/09, p.9).

The Meath Archaeological and Historical Society (MAHS), which has over 550 members in Meath, has nominated the Tara landscape for inclusion in the tentative list of World Heritage Sites being drawn up for UNESCO by the Department of the Environment. MAHS is concerned regarding possible inappropriate development of the Tara area and its lack of legislative protection. The MAHS submission says ‘The Tara archaeological and historical landscape has, until recently, remained free from inappropriate development. However, the decision to route a section of the M3 tolled motorway through the heart of the Tara landscape, including a 26-acre interchange within a short distance of the Hill of Tara itself, has not only severely damaged the integrity of this ancient landscape but it has also raised real concerns as to the prospect of secondary development further threatening the heritage and landscape.’ (Meath Chronicle 14/2/09, p.15).

A newly formed group, Save the Shannon Town Hall Woodlands is calling a meeting for Thursday at 8PM at the Oakwood Arms Hotel to raise public concerns about a proposal to erect a county council depot at the back of Shannon Town Hall. (Clare People 10/2/09, p. 6)