Residents in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, last night voted to raise up to €150,000 to help fund a legal challenge against plans to locate a national toxic waste incinerator in Cork harbour.Residents in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, last night voted to raise up to €150,000 to help fund a legal challenge against plans to locate a national toxic waste incinerator in Cork harbour.
They claim An Bord Pleanála's decision was "politically motivated and ignored the advice of a senior planning officer who led a four-week inquiry into finding a suitable location for the plant.
At a crowded meeting last night, Ringaskiddy and District Residents Association voted to fund a judicial review of the planning decision. Legal experts have told the group there are good grounds on which to mount a challenge which is expected to cost between €100,000 and €150,000.
The residents are broadly supported by all five TDs in the Cork South Central constituency.Despite what organisers described as an "open invitation" to attend last night's meeting, just one TD from the Cork South Central constituency, Mr Dan Boyle of the Green Party, was present.
The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, was attending a committee meeting at the European Parliament in Brussels, according to a Government spokesperson.
Other local TDs who say they are opposed to the incinerator but were unable to attend the meeting due to work commitments in Dublin or abroad included Fine Gael TD, Mr Simon Coveney, and Fianna Fáil TDs Mr Bat O'Keeffe and Mr John Dennehy.
The association's secretary, Ms Audrey Hogan, said up to eight groups in the Cork harbour area were committed to funding the judicial review. "There is going to be a massive fund raising campaign within the next six weeks. People are strongly committed to this. We are here for the long haul."
Mr Boyle said the incinerator might still be blocked by local councillors who are expected to vote on changing an existing right of way to land where the plant is due to be built.
Much anger has centred on An Bord Pleanála's decision to grant planning permission on the basis that it complied with the Government's national waste strategy and ignored the views of its own senior planning official.
Speaking before the meeting Mr Batt O'Keeffe, chairman of the Oireachtas Health Committee, said he will meet the Minister for Environment to express his concern that An Bord Pleanála's decision may have been influenced by political considerations.