Aer Rianta, which is discharging hundreds of tonnes of raw sewage daily into the Shannon Estuary, is breaching planning regulations, a High Court judge has said.
Mr Justice McKechnie, handing down the finding yesterday, said the only reason he was not closing down Aer Rianta's new air terminal at Shannon was in the interests of the travelling public.
Kerry county councillor Mr Billy Leen had asked Mr Justice McKechnie in March this year to grant him a declaration that Aer Rianta was operating in breach of its planning permission for the new terminal.
Mr Leen had sought an injunction which would have brought flights out of Shannon Airport to a standstill.
Mr Justice McKechnie told Mr Michael O'Donnell, counsel for Mr Leen, that Aer Rianta was operating in breach of its planning permission in that up to 300 tonnes of untreated effluent was being discharged daily into the estuaries of the rivers Shannon and Fergus.
He said that while he would not at this point grant an injunction restraining the discharge of sewage into the rivers - a move which would effectively close down the airport - he granted Mr Leen liberty to apply for such a restraint at any stage in the future should there be any deterioration in the quality of water in the rivers.
Mr Justice McKechnie said this decision was not in the interests of Aer Rianta, but solely in the interests of the travelling public.
He awarded full legal costs to Mr Leen to be paid by Aer Rianta.
In March the High Court heard that Aer Rianta had begun occupying the new terminal without a sewerage plant in place to treat all sewage emanating from the airport.
Mr Leen had told the court that all sewage from the terminal and from aircraft using it was being discharged raw into the estuaries.
Mr Leen had claimed that it was a requirement of Aer Rianta's planning permission that it would not occupy the terminal until it had put a treatment plant in place.
Mr Justice McKechnie heard that Aer Rianta had that month applied for planning permission for a new sewerage plant and awaited the outcome of its application.
Yesterday Mr Leen, in a statement issued through his solicitor, Mr Greg Casey, said that he welcomed what was a most comprehensive and reasoned judgment, involving as it did huge areas of public interest and the conflicts that arose between the competing interests of the travelling public and the need to preserve European conservation sites of international ecological interest.
He said the planning regulations applied equally to everyone, great and small, and that in his opinion the court had found Aer Rianta was operating the airport in breach of its planning permission.
"The court has awarded Cllr Leen his legal costs which he regards as an absolute vindication of his position," Mr Casey said.