The Bord Pleanála oral hearing into planning permission for a 150-acre private landfill in east Galway is due to open in Oranmore, Co Galway, today. Lorna Siggins reports.
Galway County Council has granted planning permission to Greenstar for the private landfill at Killaghmore, Kilconnell, while also approving construction of a State landfill at Cross/New Inn four miles away.
The Cross/New Inn landfill will replace the existing dump at Poolboy in Ballinasloe. It is expected to take half of the province's waste when fully developed. The private landfill run by Greenstar has been approved for 70,000 tonnes of waste from Galway city and county.
Local residents and the developers are appealing the planning permission, while submissions are also expected from An Taisce, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, the Western Regional Fisheries Board and Clarenbridge oyster fishermen. Residents say they are angry at the decision to allow two major landfills within several miles of each other.
Mr Tom Finn, spokesman for the Kilconnell, Newbridge and Cappataggle Anti-Dump Group, said the Greenstar landfill would also be within a mile of 70 homes and on the "doorstep" of five houses. His group is also concerned about the impact on local roads of heavy vehicles serving the dump.
Greenstar, which is part of the National Toll Roads consortium, is appealing the permission on grounds that they are too stringent. It wants to have capacity raised from 70,000 tonnes to 100,000 tonnes, and to be able to take waste from the south Connacht region rather than just Galway city and county.
Under the 26 conditions attached to the planning approval, the company must also pay almost €2 million for related roadworks, and €210,000 annually for local environmental projects. It must pay €40,000 annually for site supervision and environmental monitoring.
Shellfish interests are concerned about the impact of the landfill on south Galway's oyster fishery, while the Western Regional Fisheries Board will be making a submission on the impact on local waterways,including the Dunkellin River. Greenstar has said that it carried out a full environmental impact study into the project.
The row over the Greenstar project led to a Garda investigation in the area late last year, when the residents' group claimed its members had received threatening phone calls and anonymous letters. Last December, a suspect device was discovered by Mr Pauric Lohan, a young dairy farmer and chairman of the Kilconnell, Newbridge and Cappataggle Anti-Dump Group, outside his home at Kilconnell. Gardaí described the device as an "elaborate hoax".
The issue had already been raised last July in the Dáil by Green Party leader Mr Trevor Sargent, who said an offer of €50,000 had been made to the anti-dump group to "withdraw its opposition" to the Greenstar project. Mr Lohan and Mr Finn were told in the interim by Greenstar that the company was taking legal action against them over "defamatory allegations".
Greenstar said the allegation was "totally without foundation". It also condemned the unlawful targeting of any individual, and said it believed any party - whether for or against the proposal - should work within the structures of the established planning system and within the confines of the law. It said the decision to take legal action was taken as the company had no other option after a "misrepresentation of facts".