Complaints lodged with EU over tara / Ballinaboy

national | environment | press release

Monday June 11, 2007 23:01

by tara foundation - Tara Foundation

thetarafoundation at yahoo dot ie

The tara Foundation has lodged complaints with the European Commission against the Irish State over the M3 Motorway in Co. Meath and the onshore gas refinery at Ballinaboy, Co Mayo.

Press release by The tara Foundation
10th June 2007
For immediate release

The details of the complaints are as follows.

In the first complaint, Coillte, the Irish State Foresty Board, was cited as being in contempt of a ruling by the European Court of Justice with respect to its sale of land at Ballinaboy to Shell, and its transfer of land at Rath Lugh, Co. Meath to the National Roads Authority, via Compulsory Purchase Order. In 2003, the European Court of Justice found that Coillte was an entity wholly owned and controlled by the State, and not a private company, as it had falsely represented itself to be. Coillte’s legal role is as caretaker of Ireland’s forests, not owner of them. Under Irish law, the forests of Ireland are the property of the people of Ireland. Coillte’s transfer of public land to Shell and the National Roads Authority was therefore illegal.

In the second complaint, Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority were cited as being in breach of European Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations, with respect to the Environmental Impact Statements prepared for the M3 Motorway. European EIA regulations require all alternatives to an infrastructure scheme to be evaluated, and for the proposed scheme to be justified with respect to these alternatives. In the case of the M3, no alternative schemes were considered, such as reopening the Navan-Dublin rail line in conjunction with upgrading the N3, reopening the line in conjunction with a non-motorway grade relief road, etc. In addition, it was argued that the Environmental Impact Statements made no reference to the impact on the existing infrastructure, the local community and the environment from traffic avoiding the two proposed tolling stations.

Ends

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Comments (6 of 6)

Solidarity

by JM

Tue Jun 12, 2007 04:27

Rossport

Many thanks to the Tara Foundation for recognising the common goals of the Tara and ShellToSea campaigns, and for furthering the action against both projects.

Well Done

by Siobhan Rice - TaraWatch

Tue Jun 12, 2007 12:08

Thanks to the Tara Foundation for bringing attention to this issue. Coillte have a lot to answer to.

Web site

Tue Jun 12, 2007 12:41

Sorry, our website address was left out.

Forest Fire

by Lloyd Cole

Tue Jun 12, 2007 13:40

These are the former Coilte woodlands at Bellanaboy which are currently burning are they? Looks like Shell aren't working too hard at the old stewardship...

Mayo News

FIREFIGHTERS tackling a forest fire half a mile from the Corrib gas terminal in Bellanaboy had to return to the scene yesterday (Monday) morning after the fire blazed up again just hours after it was thought to be under control.

The fire broke out in the Collite-owned forest close to the Glenamoy river at five o’clock on Sunday evening and three units of the fire service from Belmullet, Crossmolina and Ballina were called out to tackle the blaze.

The fire units fought the blaze until close to midnight on Sunday before bringing the fire under control. However, in the morning Coillte forest officials called the fire brigade again after the fire started to re-ignite at around ten o’clock, but the flames were soon brought under control and two fire units remained at the scene to ensure the fire did not blaze up again.

The Chief Fire Officer in Mayo, Mr Seamus Murphy, told The Mayo News on Monday afternoon that they had ‘no idea’ how the fire started but it is believed the dry conditions are likely to have caused the blaze which has caused extensive damage to the forest. He added that the fire brigade would wait at the scene because there were still ‘hot spots’ and there was a genuine fear the fire would re-ignite.
Vegetation is very dry and there is a risk that some hot spots might re-ignite. We have no idea at the moment how the fire could have started and there are 101 ways it could have started. But I would like to advise people who are in forests to be extremely careful with cigarettes because the smallest thing could start a fire in these dry conditions.

Mr Murphy explained that no houses were in danger from the blaze but Shell to Sea spokesman, Mr John Monaghan, said the fire was ‘too close for comfort’ and highlighted the danger of building a ‘highly combustible’ terminal in the middle of a forest. He said that there was a lot of smoke from the fire and felt they were lucky the conditions were calm because if there was a breeze, the fire would have got ‘out of control’.

shame

by S2S thug

Tue Jun 12, 2007 20:18

"but Shell to Sea spokesman, Mr John Monaghan,"
is that the same Mr John Monaghan who was arrested yesterday and charged with assaulting a garda seargent, the seargent having to recieve EIGHT stiches to his head!

by No 1 Fan - John Monaghan Fan Club

Tue Jun 12, 2007 21:29

John monaghan is a hero around mayo, how dare you drag him down

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Complaints lodged with EU over tara / Ballinaboy

Comments (6 of 6)