News from down the country

national | environment | news report Sunday December 21, 2008 23:20 by Contaminated Crow

A quiet week this week: a marina, waste, powerlines, waste and a quarry

More than 160 submissions have been made to North Tipperary County Council opposing the construction of Shoreline Development’s proposed 60 million Euro development at Ballina, Co. Tipperary, nearly half of which were based on a letter template circulated by the Ballina Marino Action Group (BMAG). BMAG spokesperson Joe Cahalane said ‘The local community was… annoyed at the developer’s attempt to dismiss genuine local concerns as the behaviour of a small group of cranks. What has actually happened is that locals came together in an unprecedented show of strength and should be commended for collectively digging deep into their pockets to object to these proposals.’ (Clare Champion 19/12/08, p. 6)

Almost 130 objections have been received by Kerry County Council to the waste transfer and recycling station at Scart/Caherden being proposed by Kerry Central Recycling Facility Ltd. (Kerryman (sic), 17/12/08, p.30).

North East Pylon Pressure (NEPP) has launched a fund-raising effort to raise one million Euro for its campaign against EirGrid’s proposed powerline through Meath and Cavan. NEPP is not ruling out the possibility of putting forward candidates for next year’s local and European elections. (Meath Chronicle 20/12/08, p.13)

Oxigen Environmental Ltd. is to close its landfill at Corranure, Co. Cavan to non-recyclable waste for the next few weeks while measures are implemented to deal with the landfill’s odour problems. The EPA confirmed it is taking statements from local residents about the smell from the landfill, which the chairperson of Cavan Better Waste Management (the local group opposed to the expansion of the site) said represents the first step towards prosecuting Oxigen. (Anglo-Celt 18/12/08, p.1).

Wicklow County Council planning section has delayed for six months a decision on whether to allow the O’Reilly Brothers Ltd. unauthorized quarry at Ballylusk, Ashford, Co. Wicklow, extract up to 60,000 tonnes of stone per year after a number of anomalies were discovered in the planning application. Wicklow County Council have an enforcement notice coming up in the Wicklow Circuit Court early in the new year on foot of a High Court ruling in 2003 that the quarry was operating without authorization and was not exempt from planning permission requirements. (Wicklow People 17/12/08, p.5)